Full text of "Amstrad Action Issue 006"

See other formats

NOT

off'

ciai

bite

5tra d r
a tton

Created on Amstrad keyboards for Amstrad users by Amstrad addicts

No.6 MARCH 1986 £1

es^canjheli

VuL-

/ '

■I.

*•■?>

-/Pa

u n

MASTERGAME MARVE

-'mdizzy- hundreds of screens packed with acti~

MASSIVE MAPS

S^eevo's Wor/dand Chimera revealed in vibrant
AmstradActionColor.

LORD OF THE RING

The Pilgrim ventures into the The HobbtYshuge successor.

And get o load of Drumkif- a foot-srompin* type-in to give you rhythm
without the blues. PSS— we preview the wargamers' stunning French sof rwore,
Amstrad Show- full report. DMP2Q0Q- our verdict on the latest Amstrad
printer. Plys competitions, special offers, high scores and a whole Jot more.

Vf in 1

( 1-,-

i^-ie »■-*■■■•»

«Wfr« 1H-WHK

* CAN

SPECTRUM 48K

tSTIIIlSI HIT TOUI

Interactive bubble speech odds to the
drama of this true life detective movie
Don't miss this pictui

*Ajr9n *•>*;«!*

SCRUM

AMS f RAD

llIM I .li ■ . ■- I'/.:!,! .

-!■' ..I'-'i.iI.M:!!. I--" lM(" ■ ! ■ '

tut AM57RAD

Jmrtgim- iofiwflfc Is ;n/sH^I?lp Irom: 8P- .WIISMI 1 1 1 /JJJJJLL J WPOtH'tWm* i askvs Rimtht >lttwv Gn^». .Spectrum Vwjf* ,tnnl<ilf yuod deafer*.

AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986

HOT REVIEWS

S6 SplndlZZy. OeclricDreajmhav'oeomeupwithsonie:
thing to gm ynn tn a real iizsy hundreds of screens of crazy and

intriguing action

&dbj

1 ^^ H UtL^ StisidP^V

34 Sky IOX. The classy zap~em-up flight simulator fjoiti
Ariolasofl makes ia debut on the Amstrad.

34 Tank Co mm and. Caterpillar-crack your way
Li rough this host i 1ft lerrain, bLasting the enemy to bits, Courtesy of
Amsoft-

40 Run for €5 O Id . Huff and puff your way to Ihe lop of

the athletics world Li Hill MacGibbon's e* or] lenl aimu lai ion

44 Haley Thompson's Super test.

The superman ia back. Can yon match him, over eight strenuous and
skilful events?

44 Think. Very smooth, very puzzling, very addictive
boardgaiTte from ArioiawP,.

56 Spellbound* MasteTtronip dp n agin with another
budget blockbuster.

56 Who Dares Wins II. Otity for the big hearted,

this franti c cornbai action from Alligata

72 Lord of the Rings. y« old* pjignm pokes

around inside Melbourne House s Latest

MARCH SPECIALS

22 ChaosbustCfB. Databases? What are they? What

can thev do? Which one should you buy' Head 3ei! jam Carrot's inega-
inveeligation for Ihe answers

82 Sweevo' s World. The Wacky Gargoyle game
laid bare for last $0UlS.

87 DMP 2000* Amstrad 's £160 printer is given an AA
benchtest by Chrts Anderson

97 P5S. The Coventry-baaed software house has a great

reputation for wargames, But whar's all this French software they've
got their hands on? We ventured forth to find out.

100 Chimera. The Firebird game mapped qui in all it?

screen-dumped glory.

JUICY OFFERS

112 SuO SGrlbe! The A A Masiergames can be your* if
you take out a subscription lo this truly wonderful magazine

92 Who Dares WlnsII. 2S copies of this AA Rave
are ava liable - to lbs right people .

1 06 Sp ecial O tier S ■ Can you resist The -emp-ation of
huge savings. On 77w Music System, and .Mini Office Z>

EH 13

92 Contraption. The beautiful Audiogenic game can
be capsured by SO readers. All you need is a sense of humour

93 Run for Gold . The AA Rave and Sally Ortvmr both

to be wsn . We just wanl you. to answer some Lncredibly hard quesl iosia .

ACTION REGULARS

8 Ed -Lines. The usual ravings, some very important <"j£?. ~>
announcements, and the second iiuialrneni of Sugarman 's adventures. ""^

1 Re A c ti on . your chance lo rave about curra vings .

^ .

18 Amscene. Pictures and full report from the recent '.. ' hki
Amstrad show

fc' 22 SeriOUS Software. Those databases reviewed

Pius the Vorteu memory expansions, M&& Office 2. The Music System
2*; wADKDraw.

33 Action Te St ■ Bigger than ever better lhan ever. All
the games that are fn:o play, as well as some that aren l

70 Voice Of Hie People. We ve had our say. this
is where you get yours on the games we've reviewed

72 Adventures . The Pflg r im g eta a load of lord of the
Rings and brings a missive maiEbagto hss pages,

80 Cheat Mode. Some very interesting pokes, some
mind-boggling lips

92 Competitions.

March hare if don' t ante r

Thsee corkers, You're mad as a

103 High S COre * Ho w you ' ve been getting on wi th the
" games that matler ,

106 Hot Stuff* Gel out the asbestos gloves these offers v jfe?t
are hoi. hoi. hot. ^JVk^

108 Readers* Charts. What are your favourite

^^ games and serious software?

109 FormS- The all-in-one action entry form.

WINTER
GAMES

Breathtaking Graphics

You re an athlete at the 1988 winter
Games at Calgary. Alberta. Canada You're
about to move across snow and ice with
as much speed, strength, endurance and
grace as you can muster in the blustery
cold.

This is the winter portion of the world's
foremost amateur sports competition.
You'll match your skills against the top
athletes from a hundred countries.

fie proud. Today you stand among the
elite few whose courage and stamina will
be tested by these Winter Games. Thou-

sands of white doves symbolically fly to
the countries of the world with the
message of peace-and the news that the
Winter Games have begun. This is it -your
chance logo for the Gold!

BEACH-HEAD II

Gripping Arcade Action

BeactvHead II features all your favourite
characters in the continuing saga of the
battle for KuhrvLin.

Enter the Dictator, known as The Dragon"
an evil, bloodthirsty, power crazed
maniac. A brilliant military tactician, he
has been trapped and out numbered
many times in barde but managed to turn
t he tables ot l his opponents th rough sheer
cunning and ruthlessness.

Pitched against the Dragon Li Allied Com
mander J. P.Stry ken A courageous fighter.
he quickly rose through the ranks during
World War Ik and is widely respected
for his integrity and leadership abilities.

Twenty secret chambers to explore

Unique multiple player options

Dazzling graphics and animation

In "Bruce Lee' you will experience the
power and the glory of Bruce Lee. one of
the greatest masters of the martial arts

As Bruce Lee. you will confront a barrage
of vicious Foes. You must penetrate the
fortress of the Evil Wizard and claim his
fortunes. Destroying the Wizard will earn
you immortality and infinite wealth!

US. GOLD ON THE AMSTRAD*- Q

THE GOONIES

Thought Provoking Multiscreen Action

Intricate Rube Goldberg style images
provide the challenge in exciting screens
inspired by the Ste\ en Spielberg movie.
Deadly bats, demonic flying skulls, and
poisonous slime a re just a few of the perils
to avoid while figuring out how to co-
ordinate the movements of thecharactei 9
to solve the puzzles and outwit their
adversaries.

It is impossible to get thvough any .screen
without creatively using both the ehar-
ai tei> fL-aiared in i:u: ^ teen It's uptO
you to help the Goonies elude the evil
f uuclli Gang and save their homes from
foreclosure.

Superb Graphics and Sound

At 21.15 hours on the evening of May loth
1945. a flight of specially prepared
Lancaster bombers left R.A T Scampton
for Germany And so, one of I he most dar-
ing and courageous raids of the Second
World War was underway, Nov you have
the opportunity to rehve the drama
and excitement oi (Ms Famou* action vui
your Amst [ ad computer. You will t akc the
pA£tt of Pilot. Navigate* Front and Rear
Gunners, Bomb Auner and flight Engineer
AS you pLiy I lib authentic ret oust ruction

of the night V event*. The multiple screen
action is complemented by a compre-
hensive package of flight documents and
authentic material from the period.

II!

IMPOSSIBLE
MISSION

Game of the Year 1985-
British Micro Awards

Message from the Agency computer

Your mission. Agent 4125 is to foil a
homble plot. From an underground

latory, Etvin, the scientist, is holding
the world hostage under threat of nuclear
annihilation, You must penetrate hi>
stronghold, avoid his human -seeking,
robots and find pieces of the security
code

Somersault over the robots or use a
precious snooze code to deactivate them
longenougfi to search each room Use the
Agency's computer to unscramble the

passwords front the code pieces, or try to
solve them yourself. You d better
beware., This mission b stamped
IMPOSSIBLE*"

MILK

■• Gold Limited. Unit 10.
The Parkway Industrial Centre
Reneage Street, Birmingham B? Aiy.
Telephone 021-559 SbSl Telex: 337268-

GREAT GAME AFTER ANOTHER !

"All iticcn ri»Qtf as K*ti on the Comtn.jd^rc ti4

OR N ADO

EVEL

TLL has the fastest smoothest scrolling yet to be
seen on the Amstrad,

Fly the latest swing -wing fighter bomber, with
360° control. Hug the terrain to bomb and wipe out
enemy targets.

Land, refuel take-off at will.

Fly Tornado low Level today. Your ultimate EXA,
will depend purely on your skill.

MI A J I itNO Ml

TORNADO LOW LEVEL

VTAPE? VDISC?
^£7,95 Q £13.95

HWAV ENCOUNTER QE8.95 C13.95

TOTAL VALUE

mi «<H~~FriFLL*SL

ADDRtSS

ENCLOSE ?.0 L flCHEQUE PAYAW.E 10 VOK1EX SOFTWAtt [$AlE»lTD.
SEND TO VORTEX SOf IW*8t <SMl$ 11 D 24 KAM5AS AW, iAl,FO*0 MS 3GL

M S T R A

PC 464-664-6128 v

"Reason enough
to buy an Amstrad!"

TONY BRIDGE,
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY

the f ace rf «£

"ill change ^ l are marte*;^*
adventure software AMST ^c^

"A very clever and friendly

^-~- ^— S3 progr» m

CT^ost a stoU ^red on an

eight btt tdachn^c*^^^-

OUT NOW FOR ALL AMSTRAD

CPC COMPUTERS.
CASSETTE £22.95 DISC £27.95

►n^ATHE BEST ADVENTURE
WRITING SYSTEM
IN THE WORLD.

Telephone orders and enquiries
(0734) 591678

INCENTIVE
SOFTWARE LIMITED

54 London Street, Reading RG1 4SQ.

Dear Readers,

There ' ve been aomq big changes here at RA recently, at! of them
for the good . We've taken on net just one , bul f wo, ne w membe r 3 o(
siaff see elsewhere on thii page for the gory details - and also
moved into luxurious new offices.

This is a iong -overdue slep If you Can imagine what it's been
like having to share a chair with Bob Wade and his T -shins for six
mor.ths you'll appreciate my relief. In our new offices, everyone
will have their own chair. There will be no sharing.

Almost seriously, though, folks - it's been pretty cramped at
AAHQ these past few months. The new offices and staff will allow
us to be more efficient, and so to produce an even better magazine.

This issue's not half bad. though, is it? The 1 16 action-packed
pages contain something for everyone. If they don't. Til eat my hat.
Not i ha 1 1 wear one - Spindizzyis an amazing Master game , there are
some cracking Raves and Serious Software is packed full of useful
and entertaining stuff. And don't ignore this month's Type-in - it
will produce some amazingly funky effects.

There's lots of 'that lovely feedback from readers as well. We
love reading it and printing it; you obviously love wrihng it. But
there must be thousands of you out there who've never written
either to RsAction or to Voice of the People. Why not give it a try?
Nationwide fame etc. could be yours, all for the price of a stamp

, &n* — t- c^

Amstrod Action
The Old Bam
Somerton

Somerset TAl 1 7 PS
^0458-74011

(niift id the address for all
editorial matters and for sub-
scriptions, but not ior
advertising)

EDITOR

Peter Connor

SOFTWARE EDITOR

Bob Wade

TECHNICAL EDITOR
Andrew Wilton

ART EDITOR

Trevor Gilliam

ASSISTANT ART EDITORS

George Murphy

Jane Tofi

PUBLISHER
Chris Anderson

PUBLISHER'S ASSISTANT

Diane Tavener

ADVERTISEMENT
MANAGER
Gaye Collins

OLOUR ORIGINATION

"A'aws* Kepi ocu c :: r.-ns I
Wdfetorii. tinsel £=4 : v OB

PRINTING

hedvv ;: . -,'■- :.-; Diiset, jeomsn
Way Tr.:;v,'biL.ig^,WijTo BS4
i. .'01

DISTRIBUTION
Saymovs' Pcgcf 334Brixtt
■ raidonSW! AG

■ ■

Ik, WO 1

..■}' i [': I'.:. ~'1"J.- " " -

AiH&iWoor; I'm I &S3-t .■.
r rutura Publishing 1986

3 MARCH MSTFAT3 ACT.

Bock issues

Many people have written or
phoned to ask about the availa-
btbty of back issues of Armurad
Action UnrnrtunaTeiy. there
aren J many copies ififl issues J , 3
and 4 nr<& completely gone;

Bui. if you want to complete

your collection by getting held Of

K-wmd a cheque pi ppata;

order for £1 .35, payable to Puttir. k

Publishing, to /IjJiiijf/viiJ .4r.>„-,,,.

rs&TAll 7PS

elite discs

If you've ordered EEfte on disc,
you may hiivo to wai; a. little
longer than was expected
There s a desperate shortage oi 3
inch oLscs a: the moment and
Firebird just can't get hold of
ihom m large enough volume lo
satisfy demand Aa soon as ±ey
are .jv.nl.ible,- we'll have copies
lc send out to you.

New staff

Andrew Wilton hs Amsirad
Actions new Technical Editor
Andrew was born 21 years ago ir.
Ijeighton Bm&vird but has
cVerrrmO Iras handicap re and
f ihe most prestigious jch;
in Somerset joum^

On the way ro hie appoint
merrtwrJr. desunv ..•■ ■ m. ed in at
Cambridge University fa] three
years studying MdiLt ;jik! Law.
So b« i - - :Ui be eiL;* [odeal with

: . - : lid sums ; nd I he I fcel 0339®

At univer sily he spem much ofhis
ing a student rragazinn
■ wne fluent not just in

ZSQ cod* • L'u' ir. S502 as w«

The photograph W>|
Androwc:<iim$ it was taken on the
mc i-ning of an c^im when he was
ering from a hangover So
don -.n ■ .11.

'"vnorow't i- ■] in !. ■ j- know
how will crreattystrei
we hs.\» - ■ i li: mean
I erson tn the ofl-
■ w how to change a

I
him So if you ve «
bloms. pin thorn dowi.

.- ■ send them in

Jane Toft. I-.:; is The latest addition
to "lie AA Art Team She fltadied
Graphic Design a: Polytech
and his been a freelance desig-
ner for the past yeai Her work
was so impressive slai we
oouldn I turn her down.

New office...

The Old Bam Sounds nice.

.'■ p i< for the
nature- : >\ I i : of An

Anion to move in to Of c
the cows and h . .ving

, p.,-..-;

The new offices are a mere
walk from our old
'cry near

to Somerion a exclusive and chic
Brur.c: Shopping Centre Here
you i -ti bay everything you
want, as long id you don't want
very much

The move sh
a :.ew period of harmony and
efficiency for the AA Team. No
more dodging Trev s scalpel if
■you want ;o make =i coatee, no
more glare from 'he pr<jxLmi:y of
Bob"a dUagjuflting T-shins no
more v^c w over Die p non

icouri Mo. ifs going to be
■'•• think i) vvill be

IfOl vou :

7h« ■ for al editorial

tSHOW Amsirad
Action, The? Old Barn, Somerton^
somerset TA11 7PS, The tele-
phone numbei lias not changed

Kutiff ru/Numb er 1

Jf you're slit! wanting to transfer
these 1 wo progromi from rope to
di-5t, have a dekko at the Oieot
Mode pages where there are two
folrly short listings whfah will do
the business for bottt gomes.

« AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 9

Lots of letters this month about the Christmas free gift.
Wed, almost Free, As one of them so rightly puts it,
'what's 50p?' Next to nothing for a couple of games as
good as those-

Lots of help, too, for Stephen Penn, who was looking
for a 464 without monitor, a much more common pheno-
menon than we'd supposed.

So keep 'em comin". The more you write, the more
we can print. But be careful -if your letter falls into one of
the categories Mr FLC Hawksns so cruelly outlines, it
could be o little embarassing for you,

Monitor minus

With reference to Stephen Penn
of Ramegate in issue 5, who wrote
saying that he would like to get a
CPC 4&4 without monitor and with
d raoduiatoi for less "JWa £150 I
wanted and got, the sane m Nov
ember 2985

The first piacs 1 saw the 46*
without monitor was in a mail-
order catalogue for £213 So 1
laraw that it zqiM be bought on its
own.

'.Yi {his information 1 wen;
\q various High Street shopa with
no took, iffitill went lo Curry a, I
ae&ed about the 4S4 and the man-
ager showed r^e &ie u»jt and got
cur the prise Ii$! , which read som-
ething take ihis

464 with colour monitor ~£299.d9
+ Ireesso-trft-.Tdrs

464 with green screen - £199 99
+ free, .software
4f>4on;y-£ 133.03

Modulate r -£14.95

I asked what came with the
454. and he said be could let me
have the free software with the
computer So J bough: the 464 +
modulator + free software for
£148 .34- This was in November,
so you may or may no* be able to
get the same deal as i did But
good luck: with gerti ng y ou r 464 .
Terry Matthews
Wimboni* , Dorset

Thanks fo: the info. Terry
Sounds iike you got» pretty good
deal Thanks also to B.J; Nb'n i
Slough. ]<me Fisher ofLetcn and
D Plows of Mihdenh&lh who all
wrote to paint am thai &1 Utlbgx&$
each as Littlewoods' , Grxttans'
ere, offer the momtoriess 464 Bui
as they also pouti out, the prices
he a bit steep: around £S2Gfdr
the 464,

Plea for help

We are new I-. COmpUt&r

jargon, as we only bought out
Amsr-ad CPC6 128 for Christmas
supposedly ror our children, bu'
We grown ups (!E?J die ho
We also got 'tfOtty. OWi'i spell'
advice Frcm frii-n i trie.-.,

and chose Sorcery +. WOW1
what a game We aJi Jove it and
. ■ - great tarte trying la figure
out what was reeded where and

drowning persistent

:rj,j: ty

But eventually our :-
oui etglr

we were realty g

So now we have reached the
Necromancer, but wee
tc deieai nan HQJP! We're all
rj[?i!::ia vt-iytiyatrated Someone
out ijere p lease Take on us dumb
oewcornew

l.cve your magaane, by the
way At leas! yc».: seem lo leahss

: : everyone out these
computer degree and give us in-
formation as opposed to c
larger., which means not a

' Q US

ftjnstradweto*eyou

Chris Leadbetter
Worthing

We (ton': know The answer for
• •■;. hu: we suspec: you need
to have d/f four hearts :g tit

things: all to the nasty necroman-
cer Of coarse, wb could I
v/iosiij, Can anyone out there
offer more help?

Subs sadness

I oannct understand how you can
g;ve fre<i games to post sub-
scribers, and not to subscribers
who buy from i heir newsagent.

- reason I buy from my
newsagent is because F cannol af-
ford to pay oui £15.50 at once,
which : feel ± lot of peoplfl would

tie ;n the same way B is much
easier tc pay OU" £ I .AC ai a lime
than the full iimoun:

. jjj l fee: I" teiT. especially
for youngsters who save their
picket money r-r this great

Ibaveareg erfin-the

magazme Sc come on be fait
Let everyone join in on the free
stuff The easy way round it is tq
print a voucher then every
often wfl <w>nd :hem ill i or our free
game

Parn Kamerton
Pieston

Kow seam lo bi \j from

casbH^ow
pi iblews Basici i Uy, this ioeac s
you haven's got a i 1 - 1 .' of money
This is ■: problem that magazines
s&ffet iTdn too especially m
theJi y. That a one rea&

why they have subscriptions to
g& .i lot of money to quickly so
thai they can pay The Wis. The
other reason is that Diagazmm
' ,y ioremQneypei issue fold on
sBbatziption ;hai; through news
agents Wefe<T'.' ■ 'Jgh

on people who c .

At 38* ■,,•.■'■

be craft " u&fn'J :e

help n tetters for

free games people who sub-
scribe could also send them in
and we d end up giving m/ay so
many that we probably vrouidn'l
be around much !on.j-. i

Rewarding results

l d J:ko to - .^ke [his ?f ;;nco to sky
■ha: being one of those tn, the
minority agamsi lisunge. J may
have been ;; bit hasty hi casing a
'NO" vote. I am referring to the
short programs from Tin? Amaz-
ing Amsirad Omn\L- us I
When :':iiji gettir.i": my Arnold I
ised lo take ig j ::; ty^^ig out

10 MARCH I BBS AMSTR AD ACTION tsn . -m»

: ims md it's the mrrje oid
story- when I RUM the progr im /

work Bir
listing* shot: with rewarding
i epulis
George McD ou gall

One complaint

My one complaint to that .A '

i (utfeaBe i] :-jdch,
run has unproved since
e).

Secondly i club request,
Gould ycu p'o.ise men', inn

We
weeJ : pen to

■ ! tfitmls

only Askl in '1 iisme.If

are any AMSTRAH! m
interest*
Troup, please
write.

'■■!■ ■ want ' 'i are Am^Tvid
i I yea thai old?)

till iijTcjrcvsT.^i -■■ ..t'JvontHTe^
and simulations, b'jr I also play
my fair shirp ol arcade games
Anyone interested either write
Graenti an Easi-Amsw
give ni« nam c £C ■■•■ ■

Inotio !'ii. i rank

nad re~
u^e free so;;warepiic.< for the '164
-newouldlikeanuncpeiif/
pack d; come a hue First c
first ^r-'v&d.

Finally, a pieafri rathe heart
DONTSHO ■'!' ll-!HTOr)T
K Clarke, 21 Clunbury Rd, Wel-
lington, Telford, Salop TF J 3PA

ttnv iyour

vejre; you c<ti:&j us

■ Bt

about ~hinhoii'.i!i

Good Byte

Inyci; way for a

joysticl 3yie 34 heather

! :jj.Jun BCl, A Daw days

! '!■ HI I -:' ?■-*.

■ saying iway Sc I

Iter children txol to
send for Ihmga from Good Byte .13
they are not liwre
Zac Taylor.
Bristol

\ksZac H 'Li it

■ vitife gettvig m iy?uicA »idS
Good Byte is have q

r,rtei people />;? ftis; jAc.

. ■ j J after <t few wepto tfee

ftwr Office ■ • u warding let*

ters.So iffQU want !<j gel in tench

• ■ .' ">•-■- *ftey .■■■ .,•■ Uniis

Imperial
Rcvd. London SWS Tel 01-731

Poor parents

As an over? paid

paienl 1 abject to your parents
are generally a good bet E I

wj.-rn tashoot

as my sons are 1 would bo angry!
Bu* back to my main poini. I
: with

oui in ■;:.:■ ' Curry's with

■ 1 iter ■ £JfS.
They did not si 1 gge stil I did M y
dub, [aues Fraspr also sell .

:13 own So Utephen should ask
around, before begging 'rorr,

■ pari

Mis. KBKnowles
Bournemouth

,'!■?-. ■: :■ i.';..:s

haven't b^n ;cj ">nr in

Their demands tot computer
goodies. Thanks also foi :i-
BuJ 1 rtflj swspec/ .:•■ tt .,■ :rr o* pa

Horns of

a dilemma

. lUitete
Alan Sugar cr: winning the RITA
.: , oialiry r- the
ytsai ! think be deserved to.

Secondly I wish 10 cougiam-
its you on 1 w -produced

Drop him
a tine

I am looking for Amslrari pen-
pals My name is Sean Kennedy
and ! am a 16 yonr-old Who Uvea
in the Republic of ire; ■ .i7id ! own a
CPC 464 and would be i nl c rnstod
in receiving letters from At i!
owners anywhere [would Like 10
swap general information on the
machine rips pokes, and aiso
software. Ail letters will be

,',"ered promptly
Sean Kennedy. Anfield, Cross-
neert. Carlow. Eire

Pen pal plea

Would n be possible for me a
hurriJie Irishman, tepoi -i pen-pal
ad in your aniiiz;ng. precious
papers

My name is Mark I am 1?,
years old and from the Repubhc
of Ireland 1 am an Amstrad 454
user for aboir ie moiuhs ] would
like to eoromurufsree wrttt users ol

I't-M fiom Ireland. Britain or

France using a cassette recorded
Mini OfSice word processor
program Please send introduc-
tory cassette and filename- 1
would Uke to hear from male and
female users.

By Ihe Way. Toot 13 SO fantas-
tic Arnold should be renamed
Tool

Mark Dowling, Ballindangan
Cross, Mitchelstown r Co. Cork,
Republic of Ireland.

Your suggestion for rea$ming
ills Amsir^dr. ,v? vary cnt&rTain-
ing. Bvi I'm aot euro w^ui Ahm
Sugar would nuke ofil

Not a zombie!

After being annoyed at serious
computer users going on about
the AmsTTrid range being was-
ted' wilh gamGf J as delighted to
read the letrer in Issue 5 by P G.
Worrall I agreed with every
:hing he aaid about Amstiad
adult' user?. The computer is
ideaUy suitmi to both bt^iness
and games- why cant people ac

Ptoymg arcadis game

Ju'jkwd down on. Peoplf? boy TVs
for enter Idtnment, just 3ike com-
prners. but is the watchmgof films
and comedies looked down on ? T
like 10 play a decent game, just as
I iike a decern adventure jnd I
c >n 1 ny p 1 Og r dinrn ing. Belie ve me ,
it is quite possible to enpy both
sides of compunng'

I am net a mindless alien
zapping, trigger happy zombie,
in sure there are a lot more
people like me. Admit i\*. Don't
tell mf; 'h rir you don't enjoy relax-
ing af'er a bard day working on
the old spreadsheet (1 even know
wbdlllieyrefor)
Gaicth Graham
Cardiff

maganne that t 1 - h in

forma ve ".□ be a

genius to undeiHr i

Now to the mam p,in 0+ the
leuei I am in dilemma I do not
know which of these two ;hr
get tifromDX

Trorucs 01 ■- 3iete

are a iisadvan-

d-MS to both Con
help me?

Ivostly. I have encased a
drawing. Could you include I
your next magazine a^ my
wouldbedea tplea «d,
Yannis Christodolou
Aberdeen

a pretty nasi - / dilemma to
Yttmiis It Jill dapemdii what
you want ■ ■■; . t , our Arnold You
have to ask vou'tf

f memory or a
- for // you want thti
ejf /ra memory to tun higg*
bene programs word

rs spwadsHefets
aeedtobearinmir,
! :■' Eftese prnhzhly need a
cfoc drive anyway, ffycti re imc
jsiog ramming, sbeti that extra
G4K Will be ^ gr&tl help And if
you ro main interest .■.* in piaying
games, than it ;;iest ifis

disc ■.;: 1 .v wins hands down,
hi thedxavtii

' • ■ ■;•'■ <Udge in n:.ir<r\> Ot

artistic merit ^d he's a very

». But theses

■-< ::ope Anys/ay. 1 sticuld

'.kink your miuii will bo 5e t?#a :l

•ft your teller

■rt

-f

1Hft '** j yvjtt*

hXT>

oeafi&r **

AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 966 1 1

Letter writers dissected

i would like roster- by saying that
this is- the first time J have written
ict the letters page of a computer
magazine Firstly becauae com-
posing and spring letters are
not my strong points, but mainly
because. of the type of readers'
letters that are published They
seemn io fall in to three
categories
fa} THE GROVELLING TYPE

This feast starts with 3 think
your magazine a wonderful, the
articles s!amti!ahng and colour
pages breathtaking, blah, blah,
blah" arid continues in a sickly
fashion with something like and
if y on would be so kind as ic publ-
ish my letter in your am
magazine then I shall continue to
subscribe to your good' selves
until the cows come home. ' They
then snd with hinting on what
type of software or reward they
would 8k© to receive as a prize
for being selected as Letter of the
Month What a damn cheek;- !

(b) MY COMPUTES IS BETTER
THAN YOURS BRIGADE

You must have ail read some
is type of letter The Writer
ccmmences by boasting t!
his/her Amsccmspec iru-
corciputer' has better graphics,
more memory, o^iadrophonie
sound and built-in Las
and anyone *ho doea hot own
one of these fabulous machines is
ttCpmplett : moron'

Well, the only moron ?".ere in
my op tin on is the write! Who
cares what an Amscompec etc. is
capable of ? We all purchased
our homo micros based on how
much we couid afford and what
was avfli.-ib;<? a( the nme Which
brings me on to the iasi type of
Letter

This oompuier ownei has
been known th roughout (he age?
He/she may have purchased a
Vjc £G just prior (o the release of
iie Commodore 64i or ft Spec-

trum just before the arrival of*he
Spectrum Plus, or even a Dragon
or a T199/A before those com-
panies wen: to the wail. Perhaps,
even a CPC6S4 a couple of days
befoie Mi" A Sugar announced
the launch of the CPCS 1 38! • find a
little compassion in my heart for
shis type of owner, but its no
good to keep on moaning about
h. ]UST STOP MOANING and use
and enjoy the machine you spent
y cu r hard-earned casfe on-
Having got thai load off my
chest. 1 am pleased to say that AA
publishes very few of these types
of letters. 1 have only read issues
3and4 r but have found the maga-
siae re&eshtogly different, both
in quality and content, Good luck
v,%th further issues H I add any
more then 1 snail find, myself foil
mgmto category (a).

I would like io cioee by
saying mat! am one of your older
readers, being 41 years young.
and still enjoy a good old shoot-
em-up when I oar? '.ear me wife
And kids away from Arnold's
keyboa rd
RC Hawkins
Rayne, Essex

A very sharp analysis,

jfcfr. Ha wk\ Os : ( ■ I -■ ttie unfair on
the writers who hk& themagnsine

andssyso. You've got to agree
that they're aJ&oluTGiy right.
You're also a bit harsh on those
pear old 6S4 owners 1 think V-

deserve rather more c
passion tkw you're able to give
them.

Heavy Metal

regular reader oi a a

ceivec. won thiamtmth'a jssue my
'■■i' gams of K'jng Fu 1 wl

he opportunity ofwrmng to
say how tmch I pn joyed th>

I should also like to say that 1
fee: AA to be an exoeller.i maga-
zine and in my view the beat on
ihe market fui AiusLiad useti,
alUiouqh I would like to see mom
jpacegrvenioThr Pilgrim

Finely if anyoi
lor a pen friend wb (navy

Saxon)

jnd ii'.-- !(i ,'-. ■-omp.ittv

IVl "I". TTl

Edward Taylor. 22 North View

Avenue,

Bidefor d , N D e von . EX38 3JL

Utopia

you fci taxing the trouble
ew ou i IA ROM. 1

rowever, lhal your t>
rEvittw seclioit ::ie*y have

readersa little confused nn

.•: .-- of p :

First, yum reviewei did not
make cteai the disrinctioi
twnon what !:■ entially iw*.

quite different Types of product:

OPIA adds to what -nay be
termed sysien: commands'
Examples of system commands
already present or; die Amsrrad
include LOAD CAT and EDIT in
-AS:C | ERA ana REN in
AMSDOS; Bt^CCOPV and STAT
in CF ,'.Vj This type of command is
usually used in nn-jT.ina.nd mode'
ed ^ip the developement of
prog rams as wel as to save a Jot
of time in everyday use o: ihe
computer.
(2) The olhitr typs u( toolkit

ram, uf vtijd, ihe Supei-
poewer ROM is an exarnp.c is
largely meant to add features
missing from the BASIC ".an-
gudge. These coirBnandte are
usually used :rorn within BA5IC
programs, and so .iny programs
wrtttim with these commands
cannot be transleTred *o other
machines unless the ROM is pre-
sent UTOPIA baa very hula m
common with the Super]
ROM and is nf mi]^h more gen-
eral use

Second, your review of
UTOPIA seemed to entirely miss
(he major advantages of the
program, and almost appeared
to be suggesting that ROM soft
ware is a bad thing hocause it is
more expenstvo than disc soft-
wnrn. the aim ofUTOPIA is to add
oosamanda %c The- system it
would be virtually useless on
disc because you never ■
when you itiut. io use one

! 3Dmman is i
enough memo] ...

Sd have a larqe BASIC
program]

Ar.y Amsrrad owner wi'h d
discdi ive will icrtow the inconve-
nience of having Io use (he CP/M
■ forma I or copy a duje. With
UTOPIA theea I >■ itiw ire inst-
ttn -•,■ available at any ilrne from
BASIC

the fe aiur a o f U TOP I A wh ich
probably saves most tima is its
use oi function kaya, CTRL-
ENTER produces ihe command
HUN' DISC allowing yota to autd
run a file on "hn disc f,mosi
merctal disc programs use a
loader [ . t og i am called ' H DISC 4 ' ) ,
The hincion keys wl
wiilrheCTRLlcey.- evari-

ous usefU oooTT^inds includuiq
JJST CAT, MODE 2 erase
backup filos

Third, in teply to your cnii
asm thai UTOPIA COi

commands, llua again
belongs toa diflsrth 1 : p i
^ir&y UTOPIA is .1 general util-
iaeaROM jchprc

Bsirmore than Ihecornp
very low price.

Finally, I would like to d

l» an sdded cc ,' 1> Wfl aineethe
review was mitten. These rac
scxeen dump commands

rip ■ ■ xipyooramand
| ike FuXCOPY in C3*/M) The
price reraaias £25,55,
Mark Tilley
Amor Ltd.

Mystery reader
revealed

I hftve ro confess Io puicliasmg a
copy of fcasue 2 from Stratton's
newsagents in Sorncnon' 1 was on
the point of buying one of ihe
Amstrad family and boughl
copw- j Ithe magazines to

do the maximum amount di genn
n :

1 was amazed to find that all
the action takes place in Some
; Since buying Issue 2 I have
;■ gsufl :■■
and a rather any Issue
in the new ire H

dtey knew win lived, but

ihey were unswar
Somenon -'•.-.. : bumped
into Roy Junius h cm the boo} -
who pC-inted wcz in your direc-
non I therefore looked in Qnd
ed for a few minutes.
I was so impressed with the
odd pages of Issue 4 which were
■ i : about thai rve decided ro
an Been be fc r Sie next year T h ts
decisLonii: r bo way mfluenced
by ;he incredible subsenption
offer you .jrenickir.g- but f won't
turn it down'

I've found your Serious Sett-
ware. ■ - . ■ ■ ' g an<3
idectsion
. i processor to nur my
put poses, but I mnowwaili:.

Rung Fu joy

When I saw that you were giving
j way two games (with the Chris-
tmas issue) I thought they would
be rubbish

Indeed , Number J is dull and
boring with no change of lask . but
Kting Fu is very good and addic-
tive. It may not have super-hot
graphics or the range of moves of
Fisi. but it has changing back-
grounds and even a nice tittle
tune. Bu: the real winner *> : th:;
gsroe is the action rop lay facility
The joy I had watching how 1 sen
my opponent reeling in alow mo
h ion was immense.
Andrew Bowden
Loughborough

13 MARCH 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION' i ,-

.T heSp with a database?
The machine I bought is Ihe
6133. During the week it goes
me ":• Stevenage, at
rwis it o :.v nes home to
. Wit ft a i mi Tn ey of about 300
• a week it is \k: ty to be one
■ best travelled,' Ajnstrsds.
David Tiinbridge
HitiahEpiacTDpi, Somerset

ft s a retfier' re ha m ystery

cleaved up at last - mid to know
'h & fprm&riy anonymous re-
ader is pleased ynui his pur-
chase. As for databases, look no
further than tl;ts vary issue for
B^rlranv Carrot's in
znalysn-

What's 50p?

Thank you to: '1/ ■ ■ ■ i (3 Chris-
tina*! edition of A A and the free
(well ■■ .

games Joa ran on my 664

with no ireubie at all f j
ly jkedfungfuwiht its excellent
graphic* and movement control

Kung Fu pain

I dcr.'t know about Kung Fu.
Flung 1: would be more suitable
Despite your ravuigsl remainun-
lmpressed. My copy gets up to
ihe following;

1} 2 player mode - no strength
symbols. No sco re, going back to
the menu each game .

2) I player mode after black belt
grade (score $!£) - figures re-
verse sides to strength symbols
Reverting to 2 player mode re-
verses left and right movements
on both keyboard and Joystick,

3) occasionally the fighters
overlapped, apparently sliadow
boxing

As Confucius would have
said - velh/ confusing la this in-
tentional or did ii lose something
from the j apanese translation? In-
cidentally, did you know you
gave the game away (no pun in-
tended) when you said Chris
Anderson fisted' his way to a

% Revealed

but the trouble is, when you are
used to loading from disc the
lime laker, for a trtpc 10 load

sDeme an eternity

I am fairly new to computing
and therefore net experienced
enough to know how to ah*
programs in order to save and
i . ': -::. fiom disc. Would If bo
possible for vou K> p

..: ing to enable thisro be
oone' J

There must be growing

>f people who have

Amslidi- with disc cnyp; who,

1 3 ire restricted i
ber oJ

can be purchased to run
disc When these are avail
trey are much more exps
than the rape version and i
case having had r~ a box of ten
discs I have enough storage
space for Literally hundra
ime.

I h.i- ■ ipe-to-riise 'Jlikly
Which -ry gned, Khll

needs a deeper knowledge oi
programming thai; I have Pet*
haps you con idmake tape-*;:

black bell acore? Just keep your
finger on the fire but tc:t arid more
often than no: you win Next
month do we gel a free copy of the
Eminim .tape by BugBear sod
ware? 1 can": gei very far into
Number J to criticise it. Sorry!

On another subject. Ken
Walton's tetter Hobbit diatribe!
was very interesting because jj
echoed exactly what I was going
to write, if the above h.adn'1
turned up. (Yes I'm a righi
moaner) Melbourne House didn't
bother to rsply to me either My
keyboard must be faulty as well
because using Tasword's com-
manes to delete a word- shift ■*■
DEL - also has the effect of delet-
ing the whole line. Still I think it
has enough pros lo allow one
bug Not Rohbii though I drink it
stinks ai that price, which is a
shame because it was very play-
able on a friend's Spectrum,

D H Goddard

transfei areguJai feature?

(,i(- f fht (CfcrfcaCnas

. JOC .mi n "ho n-

bracket and thiiU ihemaga;
going :n the nghl direction G . od
luck for die future and s
happy new year to you all.
Tony Hawkins
Lichfield

We printed a listing in the iasi

issue re transfer Ktmg Fu This

I ■■ tn Cnc-t ' Mode, you 11 find.

■ . ■ ■

*r I.
Unfortunately the Ptmness
of Transferring commercial
programs is fir&itgtei *ati das
gcrs ' Tmp&wes a;e tes#

than approving, since transfer
moans broking ^hsir profr^M,--

in wAi'cb case tve could lay on:
seives open to charges of von ■
■ : or even encouraging ill
copying However, ! hope
.urid last month's generaJ
feature useful. And the timt
not he tar off when software is re-
leasfxf simultaneously on tape
mid disc

Green Norton, Northante

justgoes ioshowyoucm '(please
everyone. We think KF's a pretty
good game. I've tried )us'. listing
my way to success, butitdtdntdo
me much good All the action re-
play showed was my peunfui
defeat,

WalUes

I think a lot of software houses are

B bunch of wallies Many conver-
sions onto the Amstrad are poor
or ]uat plain indifferent, US Gold
being one Of the mam offenders.
Melbourne Hqub£ are another.
For example „ Way of the Fist was
painfully alow, had no bull no
changing backgrounds, poor
music and sound effects Come
on software houses, the Amstrad
is the best home mnachine on the
market - lei shave the software to
prove it

Mark Wing
Blackpool

Strong words Mark We actually
ma ta'e Fist theMast&rgsiBe, if you

ntmeasbef, so we drdn r think it
was toobsd. And which USGold
games can youte chinking of?

Nasty hobbits

Int 1 I el] .'. ViSy.'Jti&

original version I've seen die
program in ihe Cheat Mode sec-
non. but when J run h jt tells me
ihe memory's too Till tn 60, snd
also Type Mwmaleh in J7r i i?-
aure you rhereare nc typing mis-

KS Cou-d JOA
help me?

On the £e lei Ere raKen '■'■■
ton i"- 1 ss»e 4 about ffobt r ■. .. g : I

aminfunatedby*h , h

craahea every lime I play i" and

■■ly it ah • .:. Hie

shelves at I I it dkseffia't

work I've writtei '■ Melboume
Howte twice They roplii 'In-
tiidt time either in th

rhree monilus late) but

me no answer saying

they'd reply Guess what? They

In't So I wrote again ^nd a,:.

atili awaiting their letter I don't

think m will come.

h ibere any way of prevent-
jt.ij ti;et.e bugs? Also i: liris pn
vented osi from buy my Loidof
theFm .:■■ iearly want il but
,-i(:aid ihir roo will have bugs
! ■ ■ LdTha Pilgi i;:i (mythicalmai
■■:■:■ : give this ,i full review a
check for any buga.
Steven Ward
Rotherham

For a full explanstic'
jiT.itr, see Cltmt Mode There do
seem to be a lot of nasty Utt'to bugs
in The Hobbii. but I'm sure M
House will fta v<? done a mvohbet-
tor job on fiom of th& iting*
which Tlie Pilg reviews in foil m

j'h,'.7 .V5S5J6 1

Hot&tr

*^^7*

\ vVp TO MAW A

co 3 -ifor9«i**F«ftB. AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 13

t*i%~ t THttf* i7 r**± ^Mn**/r7

Mars port

magic

I im very pleased about the Mar-
sport mega map, I was gi ling
quite bored with Marsporr until ]
saw youi nap. I was playing it fot
ages then I pot i: iiway. Now
you've given some lips, so out
corues MarspOft. dus! an' all. 1
ihink your map was hard to un-
derstand at first, but after sludy-
ing i! j: suddenly came tc
... iL.y _;nd forced me Id
Ma •■;.;.:

T- e game is quite excellen:
bal I would have lik
people in i:i Sun OdiAch, I c n I
wait foi Fornsx and Cwafb to be

releasees
Stewart Moore
Pontefract

£7H
r ?tfrT MAD ABOUT

f AA9SP0KT\j

Disgruntled

More about
mooning minnles

Wahay!! Af last someone has had
f he nerve to write in to tell S64
owners to ictop moaning about the
arrival of the 231 3& Well done Mi
•rank A, etarnmer. Ever/ thing
you satd was srae I my self own a
4i>4 and 1 certainly didn't com-
plain about any of the points tba',
Mr. Br amnier mentioned.

Anyway, on to something
else, May \ congratulate yon on
the fisrat few type-ins in the mag. I
"hough! were great, but please
don t make them any longer
because I hate sifting at the key-
board for hours on end

Please try to get my surname
righi as a lot of pe<jp3e get it
wrong,

PaulMcGlmchey
Derby

Have you no feelings of -sym-
pathy. Mr. McGlinchey (Trope
tha r % tight) ? It &very easy to istt
6$4 owners to stop, 'moaning if

publish a few letters from dis-
gi untied Amfitrad o waers. There
most be some I" you 6ave the
time:- to skip through my letter in
Amstrad [enclosed | ^rou'Uappre
cta:e our problem - mrae du'f
keybos-

I know two other Amstrad
owners and both have an ugylec
With the screen read oul 'read
error tv At fciea sing point J spew
sn Injur on I he phono to
Amstrad- YJhen ?. Service Dept
suggest trie L^sei alter (ape head
alignment within the guarantee
pe-noa 1 look to mags;
asyoursloseeifcjth* n i e suffer]
my iiiL'-ilfi: picb.*:.Li.

Ks-cfrettabiy, as our supplier
ran out o: keyboards wiVvn now
opted for a cash refund. I'm sure
Amstrads ate good - when they
work. Shame they can i improve
tboir predict qua'.ity control
K Chillingworth
Watford

a itfri rate, Mr CMUlngv
which surprises me. Amstrad
have always had a very good re-
putation for the quality of their
computers, recording a very low
percentage of returns. But we'd
certainly be interested ro hnjhng
from o?kf?r people h
tfeey veltada raw deal

Duffers' guide?

I'd like Li' 1 may, to say a word on
behalf o - ' the older owners of
Amstrad computers, l ::ave found
AA ::.-i be one of the be.i! of the
Amsirad magazines and have
gives moat of my reaction!
comments on -h :

are, how a two

your machine is a 464. isn t it?

The cookie crumbles

May I acid my raspberry to the 664
moaning minnies? Anyone with
any sense, or who reads reliable
computer magazines, must have
known that the update to the 6128
was coming, even if they thought
it would be launched in the USA.
first and thought il would be a Jot
longer before tt would be avail-
able here They just couldn't
wait, could they?

I thought myself it might be a
year before it was available, but
was prepared to struggle on wish
my ZX SI (yes, ZX 81 f) until it ap-
peared, rather than waste my
money by being impatient, It was
my goiodluck. and theii bad Luck,
that Amsirad decided to launch
the 6! 29 here a Icrt sooner. Bui.
that's the way the cookie
crumbles^
J R Oaten
Ashford f Kent

points which I'd like to add.

Although I am a firm fan of
seme games particularly Eiraul-
alionn iind wax games - ] bought
thte4§^ fo: aerious use as a word-
prr-M-i ■;-.-■. i :md (or educational
uso, I* would be nice, therefore. ii
AA had a regular section on
educational programs {a ilhr
I reaiwp there .-ire? nil too few of
I horn; 1 f(M!l also; llial 1 would
welcome more material on seri-
ous hardware and software. \
would likolo pm in an addition..
p!e« wihi respeL-l to the siyle cf
your reviews.

Iatna complete du ffe r v/r e i e
computers are concerned and
see th«m aa tools rathe: than as an
ere i:j themselves 1 can sec that
moat of your reviewers take
pains to keep their cornmentij an
clear as possible fot people like
me. However, ewen ir.p.w host
efforts r,rc scmetimes nut
enough: many of the reviews
have references to previniss sofs
v/srp or tc [eehniques about
which mw luffpre know very
little.

Would it be possibie in a
Similar vein to the Second
Opinionsinr. :he ydmea reviews -
to ges se r iou3 hardware and soft-
ware reviewed by a complete
novice duffer who would be able
to prase::: .ti sti engthfl and weak-
nesses ""rom .i total layman's point
of vsow something like a
Duffer 's Corner for each piece 69
hardwtare/software?

1 am sure that such a simj I©
approach in terms of wha: the
item ^nn 6i cannot do what it can
be used for din.1 what the pro-
bieicii are .vould fie of immense
helptoi tftj vp-.-.op.,-

Kcith Pye
Newmarket

/ idka your point about novices,
Koirh. and I'm glad you Appl'^Ch
ate our ef?Q;iz to i>e us cteaj
passage i.'j Serious Software. The
problem is, i think that d t:ue
nov; mve very little of

mtmzst 10 33f xftoiu most
pi agiams .'W-?, i r>y nU reviews cJj*
wordprocRssors k&v& to be At
fesst-sligfi ■' ,'y cempa ra ti vs. Some-
one who 'd never used one won;, i
pwb.-i b ly ,i ust sayho w wonde rhy f
ft hw eve:: though if -might be
j'j-j^'cji'j woixo r,'i,??T \ith:T r-nru'lar
products FbJC tsore technical
pwgrams. sftis problem is even
;?;,:.;--■ ,K7!j;e. w*af wouldanovice
hav& to say About a toolkit or a
madune code monitor 7

f™- longer features, such as

those on Spreadsheets or Ac

counts packages, tve do <theitdy

give an explanation first of what

uns do una ,'ft<?rc

exan. wtfieyrtoi' Atthtt

moment . , ■ . , ,.-.- to be &$
dear . . ,■' hope that

we ge r th -. : ' • ' '■■:■■'■■■• tow

Bugged Composer

Whilst trying to type inaprogram
from your February issue I en-
countered a bug! The program
was entitled The Music
Composer.

The bug appeared in line
1310 The baring is accepted, but
when you wish to listen k> your
composed music, an error report
appears reading 'subscript out of
range in line 1310',

I checked the listing of line
1 310 with line 1310 in the maga-
zine and they are both exactly the
same,

Could you please advise me
how to correct this mistake.
Craig Parkinson
Rotlterhajn.

The Listings Editor replies.
there's a common misunder-
standing that when an' error re-
port refers to a line number this
means that the error must be in
that line If very often isn't I'm
afraid you '11 lusthave to painsta-
kingly check through the rest of
the hstittg, Craig. There is an art
to debugging a listing, but not
one that can be explained in five
minutes.

Money snag

My son got a CPC 464 for Xmas as
well as AA magazine'. We are all
enjoying the Ocean free gift and
Alastair, age 6. has scored 270 on
Number 1.

But we have hit a snag with
the Money Game program. Our
program tells us we need a 'next'
in Line 20. Not being experien-
ced in computing 1 don't know
where to put it. Can you help,
please*

Mrs M T Findlay
Seaford, Sussex

See the reply to the above letter
for an explanation of what may be
going wrong. We suspect you

could have omitted a 'next' in
Line 130, Rest assured that the
program does work properly.

Where's the club

] am writing . ask .1 1 jjj ■. ■■ join the
•:.'..-.::■ .1 avoro

■ -ised n CPC K-: 1
wiah to find oui ail the inform aticn

ib^L-lll

Charles Clancy
Clasgow

Charles -there isn't an A A
Club Yet The best lean suggest
>s to get the maga;:;:-. ■ : egruJarify,
Yon should fluid ey&rything you
need inside

14 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACJlQNix^.m .

THE COLLECTION

The PSS WARGAMERS SERIES has

been created lo combine e*emenls 0' a
strategy gam* like chess with the added
excitement of a graphic arcade game,
They aw for the ofeyer who wails a
ser iOL$ bill Stimulating game requmng
both majmalderterTty art) mental agility,
ftiesfrategieievetof the games* played
on a map System, whilst the tactical can
be played man optional a'caita stye with
you actually tiring guns and missiles,

THEATRE EUROPE - STRATEGY
GAME Of THE YEAR i%$ - CRASW
ZZAPfAMTlX

Theatre Europe portrays the next war m
Europe. Command either NATO or (he
WARSAW PACT 'orces and control air.'
gfpjjKi'riugleaf and chemical units
OpAOrta! arcade Sequences put you
actually in (he hot seal. 3 Level game
where Level 1 is for beginners (the
computer opponent w-ll not use the
Nuctear option) Levet 2 is a " rational'
game fallowing the accepted strategies
of NATO and (he WARSAW PACT In
sever 3 the cempuler alary* a highly
unpredictable game where anything
can happen

■TWf A TMOSPHERE GENERA TED
BY THIS EXCELLENT GAME IS
INCREDIBLE - VfRTVALL Y
UNRIVALLED BY ANYTHtNG ELSE
AYAJLASLEZZAPM JUNE 85 -
GOLO MED At AWARD

■HEAD MUD SHOULDERS ABOVE
ALL OTHER WARGAMES-A POWER-
FUL LESSON "'CCl JULY 85,

BATTLE QF BHfTAJM

A 3 level game wrftfi you in control oC

fighter command durng the- summer" of
1940. Optional arcade sequences
metude flying a Sprtfire in aerial combat
and firing an anti aircraft gun. in ground to
air fighting

WARGAME1

IRE EUROPE

"SWORDS & SORCERY

"fT MAKES YOU WINK MORE THAN
MOST GAMES' - AAn^E-
AMSTRAD ACTION FEB BG.

GAME CONCEPT OF THE YEAS MS"
CHASH-22AP &UAMT1X GAMt-
THE MONTH" -C4VG JAN'U

CRASH SMASH" -JAN

A C At { S avail soon) £9.95 S A (C avail soon)

BATTLE FOR MIDWAY

You are «n command of the US Pacific
fleets 6 months after the attack by the
Japanese on Pearl Harboc r . It i s a 2 level
game oepic&rg 3 different Japanese
strategies

'ONE OF THE MOST PLA YABLE
WARGAMES EVFfl'COM PUTER
GAMER DEC 65

GOANDBUYfrr-AmM DEC S5
SUPERB** - ZZAP 6* XMAS S5

A C (S avail soon) £9.!

"COMMENDED - STHA TEGY GAME
0FTHEVEAR1SS4-C&V6

zOF THE MOST AMBITIOUS
WARGAMES EVER RELEASED'
2ZAP64DEC 85

ACSM

£9.99

WARGAMES SERIES

THE STRATEGIC WARGAMES
SERIES has been designed wilh the
wargame "punsT in mind. The games
are played on a map system, are

"phased" aid use symbolic represerfl-

sfon of the units. Payability is the key
noiB »n ihe series wilh 5 tevels gf difficij Ity
suitahte to* begmrer and expert alike,

FALKLAND* 8!

■4 CLASSIC EXAMPLE Of HOW
WARGAMES SHOULD BE
PRESENTED" CBU USER JAN 'S6

"FALKLANDS '32 WILL CHALLENGE
AVID WARGAMERS FOR MONTHS'"
COMPUTER GAMER JAN '86 AS

V RELEASE ___

In the dosing stages of WWII, the US
Marines fought their costliest and
toughest battle of the entire war - the
captumgoftheisienrJof IWO JIMA You
command those torces whilsi the
computer controls the Japanese,

C (S avail soon)

£7.95

A = AMSTRAD

S SPECTRUM

C - CSM64 .

A! - A"ARI

M - MSX

WiDAS The Mtdassenesotfoe playing

real time graphic adventures are totally
expandable. Not only do you have
stunning 3D fully animated graphics,
teal Irme interactive conflict and con-
versation sequences! out you can
nans'ef your player character into
dflferent scenanos from the Midas range.
A series of expanse modules are also
slanned to add new opponents, larger
scenarios and diflerent quests lo
increase inctef n tefy the playing life of
each game written with MIDAS

SWOR DS & SORCERY - represents the
first example at the Mklas range As wim
il roie playing adventures, the aim of the
game >s to develop you? character -you
mghtwant to Secome an expert swords-
<nar\ or pemaps a cunning ih«f - a»
lings are cossibn? with Swdrds &
Sorcery. There are also guests within
qLHSis tor those who want to 'olio*
them - some are given, others must be
found - some are lost causes- - Ihe
crura js yours'

Afi^omn possibty the most complex
program ye! aflempiad on a home
micro, the controls ate simplicity itself
Just six keys will control your progress
around the dungeon and operate the
menu system 'or all your other commands.

ORDSiSORCF-

REPRESENTS THE M
SOPHISTICATE; ~EGAME

YE7SEENW A HOME MICRO"
COM PUTERGAMEH- GAME OF THE
MONTH - DEC

MACADAM BUMPER

Pintail Wizards will love this game,
Playing the table provided will provide
hours ol fun, but with Macadam Bumper
you can design yar own layout- from
posftorirtj PBppers and bumpers right
down to adjusting Ihe Titt sertsttnrity.
The posslttiilies are endless!

THIS IS THE PWBALL GAME IN
EXCELSIS'" RAVE OF THE MONTH -
YOUR SPECTRUM NOV B5

SEPT "85

A S (C avail soon)

rgi imp IV •

PSS PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE FftOM SELECTED BRANCHES OF WH SMITH. JOHN MEWZIES, BOOTS. AND ALL GOOD DEALERS.

CREDIT CARD ORDERS PHONE Q203 667556.

AMSTRAD

YIEARKUNGFU

If you can master the fen moves, expect the unexpected and FIGHT
lor your LtFE against the formidable masters of the martial arts you
moy iive to meet them again on the mountain or in the Temple.

COMIC BAKERY

" Panic in the bake-shop

* Fas? ard furious arcade fun.

■Help Joe the baker deferd his baves from the rascally raccoons.

'Another red-hot Konami cookie!

MIKIE

Mkio plays a knockout frantic force if the classroom, locker room
dud the high school cafeteria. Hip-zap, door attack, throw balls and

jke him hand His love letter to mcgirl-frien* "

» ■ ™ »

Imagine Software f 1984}, 6 Centra; Street
Manchester M2 5NS. Tel: 061-834 3939. Telex: 669977

You can almost feel the tension of the big match breaking through the
screen,, .the expectant crowd is almost on top of you! You return the
service with a top spin backhand, then a forward back-spin, the ball
bounces high from your opponent's looping, defensive
lab... SMASH!. ..a great shot opens the score... but this is only your first
point! Play head to head or against the computer in this, Konami's
first and best table-tennis simulation.

HYPER SPORTS

Enter the stadium of Konami's No, 1 arcade smash -hil sports simula-
tion. From the finesse and skill of Archery and Skeet Shooting to the
critical timing or\d brute force of weight lifting — six events to test you
to your limit. Hyper Sports - continuing the challenge where Track
and Field' left off. X

Qfl^t

fmagine Software is QjtJJf-

availab'e from selected branches of: *r

), WHSM ith KilJ^IJ.H.UIl| uvoouMotriM laskys Rumbelows Greene. Spectrum Shops and afi good dealers.

TheSh

Arnold packs em in again at the second Amstrad Show, held in London s glamoro

The second Amstrad Computer Show,, held at London's.
No vote] on January 1 1 th and 1 2th, proved to be every bit
as exciting - and crowded - as its predecessor back in
October of last year. The crowds, of visitors ore estimated
at around 10,000.

Just about everyone in the Amstrad world was
there, with the notable exception of Alan Sugar. Bui he
wasn't real ly missed - the range and q vanty of soft wa re
and hardware on show was fasti noting enough i n itself.

Pride of place has "d go to Scre-
en Micros whose .T.;nd bristied
Willi a range of exceptionally im-
pressive peripherals from Ger-
man manufacturers Vortex
Their memory expansions, re-
viewed in litis issue . go from 64
up Lo 5 12K Should give you i com
for a Few good programs.
Vortex's Mark Bergen claimed
that in Germany :::ts expansions
had Peer, selling so we;, that
Amstrad didn i ".ike i".' Weil, il
looks like they'll have to tump it:
Nigel Sinclair of Screen rec-
koned they'd taken orders for
I00C over the two Says of the
show.

vortex were alga displaying
■d 20Mb hard disc and a 1 4Mb
Soppy station. And there's <i lot
more to come from them over the
next couple of months jric.udiug
Silicon Disc drives the MSDos
boatd for die 6138 and a massive
expansion buaid, again for the
6128, using an Hitachi Z90 :
which can directly address 51 2K
at memory. Watch this space
news.

Another stand displaying a
30Mb hard disc was Northern
Computers, the Amstrad netwc r
Sang specialists '. i.eirswasni
inq ar. IBM, a couple of BBCs and
umpteen . Amstrads simulta-
neotisly As the company's Gar-
eih Littler explained, the benefits
for schools can be enormous In
Bootte, Liverpool . two schools on
diiler-en? sites arc: running "Vie
snme system vis a radio link. The
Northern Computers hard disc
will set ycu back £099. so you'll
probably need to c".ub together.
We hope to bring you a rep on en
a working Amstrad network very
soon.

It wasn't just the Amstrad

Specialists v, r hp turned out.
Mighty Digital Research even

took a stand, and very p '.eased
withtl they were. in Ihe two days
they flogged over £3 C00 worth of
software to 1 1 ZS and 3266 owners
in search of compilers or
graphics programs

Graphics in fad, Featui edon
many sialics AMX wera in
evidence with their new, impro-
ved Mou^c 1- s new get software
to allow Ar; to :uji colour, and a

Utilities package that gives excit-
ing features such as magnific-
ation and replication. Explaining
ItaJ] on the stand were Use Cygnet
Software learn

who wrote il. We 11 be investigat-
ing the developeatents in our-
next issue

F spwhere the Giafpad was
on view courtesy of Gralsales It
prints en screen what yon draw
on the table! and may 'soon be
capable of interfacing with none
other than the AMX Mouse If a
another product we hope to get
CJttr bands :t::!=oon_

The Animator', from Woolf
Graphics, was another intriguing
program It a flows you :o create
3artoon-styfe animated figures
by drawing "key frames the
program then works out the in-
tervening frames If produced
some wacky and wonderful
effects.

Games software was no: .

■ tfarif prominent - plenty of
people we:- i recent ji

even old c

Hut
Blue Ribbon range of budget
games made theu debut - re-
v:e ws in Action Test

Serious software abounded.
Sagesoft's stand displayed their
latest database, and Lelecom-
mumcations software Chit Chst

[or r.c B1Z8 and 8256 NewStar
had a similarly, wide tange zi
programa inclucLng tiewWord
and FiexHihe, a database, Other
familiar names exhibiting in
chiced Amor. DK Tronics and
Hieoft, who had a new
compiler/editor PsscalSO. for
sale. Camsoft had ^ range or soft-
ware available tor the small busi-
ness including sales ledgers, in-
voicing and payroll systems and
a database.

Wei. : something for
everyone. And. of course, the
Amstrad Action stand, where the
full complement of Pete, Chris,
Bob, Di, Trev and George was on
hand to meet the readers, answer
questions, sell back issues and
demonstrate the Christinas gift
games Kiing Fn and Number I
We had a great time meeting you
lot we jnst hope you feel the
same about us.

18 MARCH i 986 AMSTRAD ACTION OurteGw muhepdfe

I I f

Novotel.

V/Jiiiiv/////Av J

AlfHjfi fteesley d Mmtortronic jft

kwwwskmwkhs^

lfei r lr'; Id* men who't ilw.r a I

ICTjh i iH-li ii rt ihM

publ'-c cppeoronce, Despite the

V r Ppnr^h of Wejrmourti, (ii Ye
PSkjrim rs wortt to col Hwrcitpoy
lhe?r IrccSlKHMi visit tw lb? A*
tlcinJ. Thejr Ye avid advenlurers*
Well, y OM 7 £ havf to be Ipcane all
Ihe wA) fiDftt Weyfrtauti,

KKmkj reining iuite the rwdL WjKws/fr

The Show moves
to Manchester

Live oop north of in bonny
Scotland? Fed up with everything
happening in London? Well, relief
h at hand. The next Arnstrad Sho
h to be hefd in Manchester, ot the
New Century Hall, on March 22nd

exhibitors.

Future shows will include one

and June 1 st, and possibly

W/f//f////t

Me gat JW el t down

Meftdown'n defined lo appear
on your Arnold around the end of
March, and Allfgafa are matting
some e«ited noises oboul it. They
could hoy* a point — the disc-
based 1 2SK version will hove 1 92
roomi, speech, three major game
toskj and 1 8 iub-totki.

The scenario land* you on the
moon, the only human m the Star
Wars HO. The reactor'i unstable
and the computer's gone bonkers.

Noturally, you hove to sort the
mess out.

Cassette owners will hove to
moke do with a version of the
gome containing 64 rooms ond
minus speech. Meftdo wn «r ta in I y
sounds and teaks — from pre-
production photos — pretty
impressive. If wtfl cost £8.95 on
cassette and £ 1 4.95 on disc

Alan wins Rita

Yes, he's done it! Alan Sugar has
been named 'Personality of the
Year" ot the RITA awards. What
or who is Rito? Why, it's the
Recognition of to forma f/an
Technology Aebfovsmenf, an
award decided by o pan el of ion
MeN aught- Davis of BBC s
Micr&Itve, David Firnbergh of The
British Cmputer Society ond Dr.
Douglas Eyeloniof the Computer
Services Association. We've
heard of (he first one, but the
other two ore o couple of dork
horses.

Still, Alan deserves it, doesn't
he? (Don't answer that If you're a
664 owner). He's done us proud In
*85 with a stream of ace machines.

..ot to be a knighthood, at
least, this year.

Disc drought

Britain is experiencing an acute
shortage of 3 inch discs, a shor-
tage $0 bad that many software
houses | us; can't satisfy demand
for disc-based software.

For the user wanting blank
discs , things are j us ! as brid . Boots
are charging £5.35 for a single
disc - if they've got them in stock
- while * five -disc pack will set
you back £19.99 at Dixons. Mail
Order is cheaper, but you'd bet-
ter make sure they've got some
before you order.

The problem seems to be
that manufacturers of the discs -
the Japanese giants Panasonic
and Maxell - didn't reckon with
the tremendous success the of the
Amstiad machines last Autumn.
Demand for discs now far out-
strips supply,

Help, though, is at hand. A
spokesman for Panasonic In-
dustrial UK Ltd said that the
company's production is now
being increased from 500,000 in
January to 1,000.000 per month
by April. "Our larger, he said, is
1-4 million by May or June'. He
also added that he saw 'no reason
foi a high price in the market
place.'

It seems, too, that the
strength of the Amstrad com-
puters is about to tempt other
manufacturers into the produc-
tion of 3 inch discs- By Spring; or

Gremlin Discovery

Gremlin Graphics hitve Lai inched
a new label Discovery for ufJA*
i\- ; F;::ir release on ibe ^bnl ts
Pyrxdev a disc-only deveLcpa-
mmr svstem for the 464, 664 and
6128

The five programs on Pyr-
adev operale under AMSDOS
and consist of a source jlie editor,
ir :i :uotulor and dis-
ass&mbh t tdtsc-nuraeandafile
rnanagementutibty

Pyradev s:\uu\fi be- nvaiiaMe
new and. costs £23

Amstrad
English

Not anew language, but ye* ano-
ther company won over to pro-
ducing software for the Arnold
And they're bringing Out What
looks like some very 'entertaining

Bluff

Kmghi dimes la a medieval
uombatgarftftwi' jifferehl

events including the fearsome-
sounding Quarierrsuff Bast
and Bail and Chain FlaiJing The

A/RO?

Rumour has it thai this ia the name
"■ mstrad a boffmaa re calling
Trie IBM '"ompatib!e they're wcr-
«'ii, i on il stand* for As niioriBM
Rip Off Seertui n tn t harsh really
Lei's niAi hci.eii'snotgoino to be
the Lssi computer wtiri an
bubbles

qames will have a two-pid'/w.r op-
&ori medwtfa: music' and >: the

-.-an shots are an . . go

b y , some exoaiie i it g ..

A;so coming tei y sh-
irotn English Software j.,
Arnahad version of EZfakttagil
s high-: 1 icing game

wnhwha aieattrao'

live graphical .ind n .K>*»h

games wlji coat £#95 on cassetie

■■MM

:'':^::-.. k •-.

Summer, then, the situation
should be much healthier. But
things wiU be tough until than,

Elite's arcade
action

Eiite Systems should soon have
Amstrad versions of several ace
arcade games available, Expec-

tad fsrs? i& Coannaada, already a:
the top of Specti urn and Comrno-
dore charts, fc'a eo be loilowedby
Seznbjack. Roller Coaster &nl , a

iter Chcetsaad Goblins
A3 the games Wi coffl £8.95 on
rApe And £34.95 on disc.

Amstrad
Customer Service

Amsircd. when you neec help?
Thirgs may bea-iihie easier now.
since Amstrad have announced a
new Customer Semce number
0277230222

wiinwiariK^KA AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 196621

Some at i\w *g~*
X new Mini Office 11

a,.,— -»-- ess,™"

„ F ,h«dd*d "^ r ^* 4^«r

methods Oj o*,^ Jt Liwi SO column.

molted

Axwgfat

SSWB&rSSt

doc*- P"

*p«d«f i

IMW

W| rh ihf dolt**** V°* .

* Sean* »* w *u™P« J£™r ,

^IrmiW-JliM'* 50 ™*
■ i; ,h ih.- an******** * ,u 5*5 ' "

s^wjfe

:» ; |

fate b°> rh*rit £** ^ 2D or
^ZTlAeoUnk » Titetsw Odd

SRw« B,nwMd

Database
proudly

presents.

When it was Launched in October, 19S4, Mini Office was acclaimed as the most
innovative software of the decade, creating new standards in serious programming -
and at a price everyone could afford

Since then it has become far and away one of the best selling packages ever
created for the home computer, frequently displacing games from their position in the
Top Ten. And, unlike most software releases, it is still as much in demand now as it
was 15 months ago.

Which is why there has been so much speculation throughout the industry about
what the much-rumoured Mini Office 11 would be like. After all, how do you beat a
bestseller?

The answer is - by making it even better! And the new Mini Office II is certainly
that . in every respect

White still retaining upward compabbiHty with the original Mini Office, it is packed
with a host of new features that have been made possible by the tremendous strides
made in programming techniques In the last 12 months.

The result is the most comprehensive suite of business programs
ever produced for the Amsbrad - and still the best value ever.

And it comes with a no nonsense easy-to-follow guide to business
computing that will take you step by step through all the many
features, showing you how to use their huge potential to the full.

Mini Office II

Herd Processor

Hun Office II

taUbase

flini Office II

Fi»im»r «

Lriil trxl

I I -AIT t»Kl

Spareti .nut rippl^ce

C > t .,, | ,».jiir

mi * I,.*** -, r t #r n-wrft^

L„J>rt fc*H L

"mi Offir* It «»l»i

jli^> f * i !.■» ulio*-*.. Ij.*i» tjorvz-f MftP

■ I 4<b4i^e Sal iu«rr 196£

'>*>«■ I. ■ I .i i .,

, _'!■■ t - il.h L j, Jh, .p
Mini Off if II «PW

lit* t * 4. iHt cltiavr, thin COrv/fHl^Hj

- (»,. i-l.--. \«[(y«» I-JH6

SpreAdsheet

il I 1 ^r^

L> 4Mll Stff*H(t4llPfrt

S A U * t^re rvrt a !■« r e
Pr till frpx^citf-Slf***!

tit-w '-»■* f44$Mk«-# li

AVtCii '-L-I ttfii djbi'l

g* I -i:t. MJWTifr,

I.4J t'huo-p, IhPii COPV' EHTi EH

ir ru.n ^ JVUI^

Zittwasi

Al o OA

Software

' r

camms pac

Him Office II

Graphics

Mini Of f ice II

ConnijnicatioTis

Mini Office II

■ it i

r it il i
Srl^ct H j i f ^m

(■»!• 1 n « r

Hi... Off,,, II Knn,

«■ ^ t a + i.. .*..„-.-. thru ror v^ i j* 1 1 h l

■ VnUhivr '.fllaiir I S«C

'.OMHini r 1 1 inni nfuti

LA I. .1(1(1' .l('Kl>

?Hip fll, mk/T .Cold f 1 .:(>'>.■■ 1*41*1 j
11'. I - totn I *.hh( bTUtuCOtL

Select Hdii^p

«((H Office 11 n*nu

1 tu chiller, Ihun CDrV/INTI H

Label Printer

■j >.>■<> I t i J t-

M WV HI til I I I H

l.rt ] t I cirni I.
I ii irl f urn ni

H.4UH I* I If I

HM.1t I^IihIk

'£(»k -,J1P nnjl kj , r , r . n „

lie I i*C- I Mini Lfl

Hiiii Or f lrn- I 1 lt«>i»»i

Us** t .* + t<

« *■*■! COPY ENTER

D.1 UhnHH SiifUdl

. 1*Pi*t->r ^q/Iuji-t' 1'iHh:

Can they really sort you out?

Good ol' Bertram Carrot takes a long hard look at the
I programs that try to bring order to the chaos of your |
filing system.

Most of us exist in |he midst of muddle. Information —
valuable information -is 'stored' on scraps of paper ond
'filed 1 in trooser pockets and overstuffed drawers, 'Data
retrieval' means spending half an hour emptying the
rubbish bins to find that essential address.

Some people, of course, are a little more organised-
Boxes full of cards and books full of addresses testify to
their efficiency. It only takes them a quarter of an hour to
find the missing info,

Is there a better way? Can a database save you time
and cut down on worry? Bertram Carrot's fearless inves-
tigation will help you decide.

For the record

How many limes have you wished
you could find the- address book
which you're sure you left on yovr
desk? Or wonted to add details to
a record or tope ca talogue w ithoul
disturbing all the others? The com-
puter database helps with both
these problems, and with many
others besides.

In the home, the uses of o
database are usually connected
with hobbies. Anything involving
cataloguing is o pfime target, SO
collections of stamps, photo-
graphs, records, beermois or
African beetles can all be indexed
and recorded In a database. You
can then break down your collec-
tion Into useful categories, You
mighl, for instance, want to keep
separate lists of your records by
artist and by title, or to sort your
beetles by length of antennae or
wing span.

If you belong to a dub or
society you might be able to help
out the Secretary (especially if he's
you!) by entering the membership
records onto odor a base. Any not-

ices ot meetings org programme ot
events can then be moiled to
everbody by producing a set of
envelope labels directly from the
database. Bear in mind, though,
that the new information protection
laws require you to let ell your
members know that you're going to
keep computer records of them,
and to get their permission.

Databases really come into
their own when you use your
Amsirad in business. You can still
keep a mailing fist of customers or
clients (although you may have to
register it wtth the doto protection
office), but there are several other
applications which con also help
you out. If you're a small shop-
keeper or an African beetle
dealer, you'll have a number of
items of stock that you'll want to
keep on your shelves. If you run oui
you may lose soles or be unable to
continue manufacture of your
product.

Various other applications
also suggest themselves. An Estate
Agent con keep lists of all avail-

able properties on computer so he
can search through them quickly.
He can itien supply prospective
buyers with a a list of houses In their
price range and ama. I know of a
professional astrologer who keeps
standard paragraphs of text on a
database and selects Ihem as re-
minders when he produces a fore-
cast for a client. Each paragraph is
tied to particular aspects of the
stors.

What Hit?

So far, the database has just been
a haiy idea. But what is it? In i»s
simplest form, a database Is a com-
puterised cord index. Anything
you might snimr on a card in such an
index can also be entered on one
record at a dotabose file. This
might be details of a particular
house o r bee 1 1 e, or the stock ie vel of
a component. Each detail, e.g. a
person's nam* or address, would
be put written In a particular pi nee
on the record card- This is also true
of the computerised record, end
each piece of information is put in a

separate fiefdon the record.

If you keep a card Index, you
probably keep all your paper
cards In a card box to keep them

together. In a database you keep
all your records in a fite. This file is
saved to disc just as a program or
piece of text is saved from a word
processor. The same database
program con work with many dif-
ferent data files.

Storing all your records an a 3
inch disc may save a bit of spoce,
but the real benefits of a database
come from your Amsf rod's ability
to search and sort the information
much mote quickly than you can do
manually.

Mast databases will be able
to sort your file by sever cities*.
fields. This means, for instance, that
you could hove a file sorted by
surname os the first key, and use
forename as a second key to sort
records of people w'th the same
surname. You might also want to
sort the some file, perhaps by ad-
dress, for some other purpose. You
con re-sort it to produce a printed
list, while still leaving the records in |

EES

BVGSOFT ULTRABASE

ename: PEOPLE]

Record: 1

MfcLD

DATA

Title & Inltla

Dr. fc.O

Surname

Andrews

Address 1

42 High Street

Add i ess 2

Co:nput«r town

Address 3

Cleveland

Sax

Date of Birth

211004

NuiftU*i of Children

Height fill metres)

1.7

24 MARCH 1086 AMSTRAD ACTION : i..*w. fi i«ii.

their original order in your file.

If yeu want to trace a ftarti-
cglorcarcf wifhina card index, ycu
hove to look through rhem all to
find the one yoy want, With o
database, you tan get your micro
to doit For you- You can pick out, for
example, all Hie beetle* found in
thole, with green carapaces and
costing more than 4,00. You can
define complex rulm by which to
search your file, and these rules
may include wildcards.

A wildcard if rrvjeh like the
[olcer in a card game, end may act
as any single character, or group
of characters. This means that if you
want to search your file for any-
body whose surname begins with
Smith you could use a wildcard at
Hie end of the name {perhaps
Smith £), and the program would
then find Smith, Smithy, Smirhspn
and Smith-Robinson.

What to look for

There are mony different woys of

writing a database programed

this is reflected in the eight data-
bases in the following survey, Some
run under AMSDOS, others under
CP/M, some store all their records
in memory et on* time, while others
call each from disc os it's needed.

The facilities they offer ornd
sophistication of data handlinga-

renarmally reflected In their price,
so it's Frnportortf to work out exact-
ly how you wont to use a database
before making a choice. Decide
how many records you'll need to
stare (making a generous al-
lowance for expansion), which
facilities witl be most useful to you
and which you cOn do without.
Check out things like printer options
and whether the p rog rarn cart work
with more than one disc. A data-
base can be on essential applic-
ation for a micro and Farms the
third member of the business
program 'big three', with the word
processor and spreadsheet.

RANDOM ACCESS DATABASE

Minerva Systems, ££&-95 disc
CPC464, 664, 6136

MiiicT vciis a new software house, specialising in daubase systems
fcr micros, and then runner- access database foi ::j>. Amsnrad

d !.:. ?e s se vo ra ) n o vel ideas The pre to type reviewed here aril!
Sacks the code for several key areas of operation, such as sorting
and searching the database, so m cQir.it:or:t only on me specific-
aiion for these routines. The GniEhed product should be available
very soon after you road this.

There arc two types of filing systems available To; databases.
Sequential filing means that a program can only read each record
inse one after the cine: as with a cassette tape. This is the

system supported by AMSDOS any ways is like a

speedytape-1 Random Access:..:* g however (norm-

ally reserved foi CP/M programs , allows a program to mov
any disc record directly and load it into memory,

The Minerva program combines the best of both r -
worlds, by using random access 'rem within EASIC I
iisii)yG5erie3 0fmachine-ccceex:ftr s£onstO BASIC, which handle
the random access bits. Why not write the whole program under
CP/M then"* Wei J if your program works under BASIC, you can use
all of the mu tines aJready in the BASIC HOM. The Minerva system
can therefore offer all the calculation facilities of BASIC, with very
tttle extra programming

Thedatabase is very user friendly andspliia off the creation of
r n its use. The format of the screen is completely ;ndepeiid-

: the li.it-i on the file. This means you can design as many

• =nt displays, form letters or address labels us you want, and
f them into play tousewitbyour file, You can even use the
sar . - with more I ha n one set of data

program works in mode 2 but Minerva have written

roduce double width (40 column) characters ar any

poir ; jjplay. This meatus i hat you candehne the major par's

-rcord m40coluiMnsundaddnoteseicindO columns. This

.. le standard extends to pr intoute, which make use of conden

sed mode to copy the screen display,

2ti routine is saed to be very fast, ffndmganyrecoi
a col; ■ ---conds, even ra a large f::-: i The result of a search can

kept as d sub-set of the complete file, and dealt with
iiiae;.'-:.

The Minerva syster.. .. : be a very versatile product at a
reasonable price :urs mat Hie r.tndom access file r.az>

d ling extensions may later be re leased on their own. Let s hope so

► True random access from AMSDOS

► Full BASIC calculation facilities

► Dual mode 40/80 column displays

► Couldn't check sort, search or maths routines

IYIASTERFILE/IY1ASTERFILE 128

Anvsoft/ Campbell Systems for 464/664 £26.25 cass /S39.95 dist
for 61 28 £34 . 90 disc only

Miztcrfiiewas one of the first database programs available lor the
Amsrrad micros, and still holds up qure well againsi thfi full CP/M

rings. Masrerftis 13Sis a revised and improved version ol the
original, and although only available direc: from Campbr-
■ i, ■-. nT.itwillsoonbeaddedtothe 16 1/864 version malablefroni
Amsoft,

Thir, database is relational which means yon can call up de-

i of ..i record on one file by refer ring to a related record on
another The uses of fins faeffirymary not at first be obvious, Take an
example, though I: ycu were keeping an index of books on a
MasterfUe database you mighf have ten by Russell Rohan. Each
book record would have to have lire full author's name against tts
title, and you would iherefore have the letters Russell Hcsan on
your file 10 times. Multiply litis by a'l the other authors whose
books you like, and you should see you're wasiing quite a bit of

yce.

H*t , TH,'»t>«t.i. i:m&V

msnii iw

MiV iMtit

r.. H Bu-f-*H

SW2 75S4J

first:* fts'fc,,,

Uteri t;5f> CH14 M.Y

$n4ilni- Hilt Br' v-r^*r'^ " "mIUiJs

C^HpferiJ ^iftuixr

If* llA

; 91 SI a>i»

CtMJitM L-tit* KiU lit iitniii

It-i M« 4»3lt ft* H*o«f Kialt

nr S t fMr«ut»h

ttrmmn Ct Tir*.-diiJ.

N*ffi.Ti

4m*t K*ll)

1 1 u«n urdms

£jri*»y Oiii. W

MDtt .<B 4l ice mtttt u*tL»-iiiJ

iii#: riui i«*rts:ceti s*;*ct«dLaiiia j-.u-»nU;»Hi tim ™.ti:nn tra* tax

Ma&terole. however . allows you to set up a parent file w
the aulhors h names on itand to use iwo-charactsr references to Link
diem ic child records on a different file, which have deiaus i
the bookntlcs You can still refer to the child file if you want to deal
with your books by title.

The program can sor: a hie and search through if. using a
: - y- , - 1 - : 1 1 ..•: selecting aaid le ,: '"' !tin | re : jrds i"ou ■.: therefore
create any subset you hke by f,ayij:r.g only the records you want to
keep on file Yon can't save a sub-set, thougl i

You can keep totals of fields in a M&sterfile f: e but you can't
perform any other calculanons on numeric data, Aaaint;t this, ycu

freely design your rycord screen and pul in frames and div-
ideisatwtll, by selecting from a series of menus. This ,su't quire as
easy as desigmega record on screen, but the Cmished record can
look very effective. Overall, M&st&rfiit? is an elective database,
but is perhaps no: the easiest to get to grips wiih.

► RelatioriaJ 1 database supports parent/child files
¥• Comprehensive screen formatting

-'.'.. :.:.:. s i:. :.-i

AMSTRAI] r\GTIOMIwL^R::i L98€ 25

► Mastezfile l^allows manipulation of records from BASIC

► Memory-based} so not suitable for very large filet

> Quite complex to use well

ULTRABASE

Seebugsoft, £16.95 cass, £17.95 disc

CPC4S4. SS4,G128

Ultrsbasa loads all the records on your file into memory when y :;u

" to use it. and holds them here until you resave me die at the
end ol' the session. This system has the advantage of making
searches anc sorts Easter than with disc-based programs, but also
restricts the amouii: of data yliu can hold. Ulttabase Saesn'tmafce
use of the banked memory on the 613& either, so the extra fHX
goes to= waste.

To set up an Vltmbeseffl&yQu specify fine type, length .and title
of each field m your record A field can be of String Integer or
Numeric type aswjthieariablesui BASTC and the lengtn she u:dbc
generous Don't ["oigei Peregrine Smyihe-Wirttertoltom' when
i&ioas ■:■} the length of a name held

Once you've defined the fields en your record you can enter
the ;lat>j The UMabase record card is in a. fixed format with all the
field tides down the left-band side of die sci eeu and their content;
down the right, Thismahe3 i* easier fur the program, but aoe;-:::'1
aid rcndabiiity much

Ycu can search and sort your file by selecting opdens from
y'JrtiJiwe'smair.ffieri'ji. bul the program can't hole, subset a of the
complete file:yeu ©as cr.ly print them out. You n.jn print lists of
i' o.jrds, f.md specify which fields from each record will be in
duo ed , ; j i print kc reen copies

UHrabass is a conversion of an earlier Beabugaoft program,
written Eoi the BBC Micro several years ago, Home computer
programs have advanced some way since then and thij
shows Is iiac The manual doesn't tie up With what you see on the
screen aithei For example, two fields- in tta ; file

should bo titled No of Child and Hi (rn). but on the screen they
appeal ■ 'Number of- and 'Height \tti) Prelum, n .-. fhi be
Bcebugsoft know some very shortpeoplel

*■ Fast sorts and searches, as data la all In memory

► Laay tousi;

► Cheap

► Limited space for data (roughly 300 records)

► Fixed record format

► Demo file and manual have mistakes

FLEXIFILE

Saxon Software, £39.9S disc
CPC6128.PCW8256

Flexible gives the appearance of a database whi eh has been
horned into the- CPC6i2a Although the PCWB256 will give it
; ejjjyofroom, the632R's banked memory is barely sumciei I I
run it. 1'IexniitE-une?. 1L overlays (sections of program which are
1 g ; ] d o d f t cm di sc when needed) Ther e is o ver 1 OQK of co de invol-
ved in the program which doesn't leave you much dise.apac* ■ i
data. You can split the main part of theprogram onto a second disc,
but you will still need aH the over lays on ever y data difiC ycu use,

The program is heavily menu-based, Everything you do
withm -i involve^ trips down a tree, of different mi&hu*, each
leading to the next level down. This can be quite confusing to start
with, though it does prevent you having to learn Control se-
quences, as with WordStar, for/instance

Setting up a new database requires you to set up your
[ asswo'rds and maths consents before defining your Eeld types,
lengths and code names . Each cede name defines a field to the

p i c.q ram and must be four letters long, with at least :wo capilals.
The field description car. be much longer, and ii is this description
which appears <>" the record card Tre simple, six-field, instruc-
tional database described in the manual produces a hie descrip-
tion (stored on your d;ite disc) which is over 19K long. That s
before you add any data:

The manual is a topsy-turvy affair, where interesting bits of
information, auehashowtogenhe keys to respond are left til after
the tutorial section which uses (hem If sprinted in bhsa or. blue, to
stopphoiocopyirig but is parohy with very sirall prini.

Once you've defined your file you can perform calculations
between numeric fields by denning Formulae whi ::::«pp]y lo iliern.
This is where the constants come in You can for instance, define
one field as The product of another and the current VAT rale. If the
VAT rcite is stored as a system conatan:. you can change it at any
time and Flexible will recalculate through the file automatically.
Very handy

You can 't son a FiexifiJedatabase although the manual darins
this is unnecessary us new entriesarealways pat into -heir can eel
place according to any number of "key" fields. Unfortunately this
process is never explained

r*ou can select certain records from a Flexible database to
form a 'sei ' : : . ["he manual goes into a confusing de-

scription of quarters and lines' which does little to explain how
ycucreatea selection-

. ,t. '::::. e isn't :e\;;v be recommended aid due I ' .; w
,ih';:nal problems with the 6128 version (attributed by Saxon to a
hardware problem) this version may well be (dropped. Although
the database is quite powerful, it is not easy to use and for any bul
the- :2ed database user oould prove aconsideTabie head-

ache

P- Cheap for a CP/M database

► Size: restricted by disc capacity, not memory

► Z level password protection

► Can't conveniently use it on the 6128 with a single drive

► Tortuous set-up procedure
►■ Poor manual

Table od

Disc

ntenTOry

Max no.
ofrecs.

No.Eclds/
Kipld It-nglh

FlCt'tOYin<)«
Redefine? J

//a

/fy

/y
Si?

XX xo

]»<F

IffiS

na/jM

xx X

W/J»

im/pn.

JfXXO

Atf^H-

AOD/IWO

V"S*»

ro/jw*

ooxx

i*m

XftO

l"/y*f

ooxx

L.:--

Aj'-a

n/*i

y/f

00 XX

A5SDS

J*/ mi <

j«/j«

26 MARCH 1986 AMSTR AD ACTION xm^*****

POPULAR DATABASE

Sagesoft, £69.99 disc
CPC6128, PCW8256

Sages oft s program .:: ..j professional database which wiH cope
with r:k:ifif things ihatmightbe thrown ;;t itin a small busings. U sn
'"nil CP/M program using random accent- hie;< held on disc, and
c::er ; ; an e&sy to use query language much like you migii
playing an id vet it u co. Mot© of this .a;ei .

Tcsetup the database you will first need to prepare a working
disc from ihe master supplied. The mam program and i'& over lays
lake up so much r com thu ' you can t add your EMS file ;o the disc to
make a tiootable working copy, which 15a shan:e You'll have to
load CP/M from a separate disc and then load ihe Sage database
from there

Defmina a file .s quite an awkward business which requires
you :c answe? d number 0:' questions acout the formal vf ■"uch field
•:i Ihf7 record, You even have tu stipulate the tow and column start
■oo.-niticrjsfoi each I eld [t's best to plot your re;::*,':) out ona piece
ul ■:_} raph paper, A pity Sage coujdj 1 have designed their prog twin
to let yon see 1 lie 1 ecord as it's built up.

Once yen ve got sotno roconi? cnyoui hie the 1 eally ' fen' part
of the ^age database comes tntoitsown. Ra*her than having dil
ent options for seaicrhinej. sorting and printing your duta, Sage's
databank &\n you give 11 commands, using a simplified set or
English words I 01 instance, if you want tc produce a sorted list of
n ames and add reuses from a f i le cal led A PDLIST" wXi field names
NAME'. "ABDULS' TOWN' and TELEPHONE you could 0vo
the command "list -iddlist by name showing name address town
telephone ' To print the same list you ■::»!} d change 'list ' to print
1 a dd 'on ptr ' to the end < unman d . The whole sy stem is ve ry

easy to use

Also included in the package is a text processor for producing
form letters From your files. This is more than a make-weight and
allows you to write quite TOmplax lexers or reports, inserling
information from-a file into each

The Sage da t& base ; 6 very p owerfyi and fr tend ly , tout 1 1 s a pity
the net' iug up procedure isn't as friendly as the rest of it

► Near English query language

► Text editor utility for mail merge

► Clear manual

features |

No subsets

Sort?

Print
facthocs

Maths

facilities

Special
featured

fmfO

<.r.dek^p*^-ii-..

1tAdt%t**t

~*"tir **i*Mto

~* 1

(JiilmiilM^iwrmk

MlHUC

JD/SO LOIUIIII! 1 — M«

TWS >

• • ■:■"-;-. ,■- ..:ll. 1

Imlnliwili

PW*

tbinkiim

* .*, MhkSDl va, Mui

jH |

U*4m4tf *h! 1 ulrtUil

- '.ovlletoh

Qm->t lantvea*

r**/*v

I.CiraUv^.p/.uXlIU

Nijm

■JO W«i*iri tubntfi

► No on-screen record design

► Programs too long to make bootable work disc

CARDBOX

Caxton Software. £99.99 disc
CPC6123.PCWS256

As its name suggests, Cardbox sets out to be aneteel ronic equiva-
lent of a box of file cards. As such, h doesn't qo in for any calcul-
ations on ihe data hi your file, hut does provide comprehensive
search facilities

To set up a ds dl you position a cursor on-screen and

define tlie cftaracterifltica of each field from there, go you cue see
the sard as it's built up A menu of different options along the
bottom of the screen, togethei with n r.umber of prompts .ensure
thai youknow what's going on all the time The record card can be.
quite Ja: ge, a nd you can incorporate simple graphics uai ng punc-
tuation characters

Once you've defined your card and entered ye 1 ycu

ctm use Csrdbcx 's versatile seleottonaysiem to search througii I
You oan select any field from you 1 r«eord . andpull out cards which
have a particular entry {'I^ondon in the 'Town' Held, for instance).
These eaidsare then copied to a new level", which ia effectively a
aub-eetofthe whole ;

Ycu can make u further .selection from ttiis level using a
different field and contents, and moving up another level Am I
nn. Y;m risn refine your selection up to SG times, to ensure ycu
eventually arrive at jusl the records you wani ff you forget what

-; you ujsed earlier on, Ceutdbox will display a histoi y For you.
. 1 1 ■'. J of course you can switch to any of the previous; levels \V,d view
s there

There's no sort routine in Cardbox a though there is or.e in

■iier Card'nox-Ptits Why CSaxion chose to provide Amstrad
Users with theeai tier program isapu^ale Perhaps they didn't like
to reduce iho price of the newer product to an'Amstiad" leve:

You can print oui Ihc screen ai any stage or orcduce a list of

Is using any alternative forma* ycu care to define.
GardbOJf is a well-written prograrr. idea! as a replacement for a
manual card box. If you don't need extra featui tictzlarly

calculations the n you'll find 11 versatile -and easy to use.

*■ Very easy to use

+■ Can hold a file of up to S Megabytes!

►■ Very compreh en sive search facilities

► Old version. Cardiojf-Piushas more facilities

► No sort routine

The verdict

As you can see, there's o wide
variety of da la base progfaois en
lha market. At the lower end come
-simple program* which are suit-
able for beetle collections and
membership lists, whi le o t ihe fop of
the range are dotohases whkhcon
handle very large files with sophis-
ticated dato handling techniques.
In the su b £50, 00 b ra cket, ihe
Minerva database seems suffi-

ciently flexible fsr q lot of useful
work, This assume 3 rhe fi''tned pro-
duet is fuSiy up to IKe pualisned
spec, fhowoh- If you're it c hyrry,
Moitetfife 128 is a more*1han*
sound AMSDOSdatG be se.

Above £50,00, bom rhe
Sage Database and Cardbox w : IJ
d&the job well, with my v te goiflg
Yo Sage by o snort nead for its
extra facilities.

B^tegfa ■ ■'-,:., AD ACTION MARC, 1 1 9S6 27

fYTVortexYYI

the add-on to

OK, so you've been frothing at the mouth at the thought
ofoneofthoseDKTronics memory expansions -acres of
RAM stuck onto the back of your Arnold giving you 64,
1 28, even 256K extra space for your programs. ..but hold
it right there! A German company called Vortex have
brought out a RAM expansion board to end all boards.
Steve Cooke has just shoved one inside his 464 and
reckons, that, if it's extra K you're after, this one's the
Kaiser of them all...

The Vortex boards come in various different configurations, bui
each board offers at least three mam features

First you gee extra space for your programs However, and
this la a real bonus, unlike some other memory expansions we

could mention. The extra apace provided by die Vortex board is
REALLY . vi-, foBASCprogrammera. Depending on i be

sis© of the boar a ycu get up to nine 32K blocks of extra RAM each
of which can t> t to store BASIC programs

You can even use deferent blocks to hold entirely unrelated
programs . and then ]ymp from one block to another, running each
progi im in v.ur, si you so desired Special software (suppl
eithei on ROM or cassette) provides a range of RSXs to manipulate
memory and control "he flew of your extended BASIC programs
Tfiia is a big idvantage over other expansion boards which do not
allow you to use extra RAM for BASIC pTogram storage unless
y ■!.' e BXtr&a

Next you get a 6QK . m area for CP/M and special soft-

ware that .ill owe you to patch your CP/M system diac to make use ol
[he extra memo: y The system is CP/M compatible and allows you
to run programs like dBase full-spec WordStar, and other CP/M
heavies that would never squeeze into the normal 464 CP/M se>
up

Filially, all 'he boards offer a 32K printer buffer that autoj
call*/ spools data to your primer while you get on with something
else!, 32K means about 16 pages of A I be a real

bonus if you're developing lengthy BASIC programs and if
you're nor, you soon will be wiihHli thai extra RAM 1

However , that ' s not the end of the story by any means , As you
move up through she different options available from Vortex, you
■ RAM >pi«s (up to 44BK in sbseiijas e who's ever

used a PCW S256 with its Drive M (for Memory) will know how
much using a RAM-disc can speed up programs that would ether-
wise teke ages loading in menus, prompts and other messages
from disc WordStar is of course, the prime example ofaprogram
that really '- • i torn using RAM •discs, and ihere are many

ethers,

Ap-jii ■ i ''-rn the massive specs of the Vortex boards the other
big advantage they have is that they are fitted INSIDE your Arnold,
and don't hang off the back, getting tangled up with your R5J332
interface ROM expansion board Communications pack,
monrtorjpower leads, disc interface, and printer cable. Yes. quit* ■
a list isn't it? One of Arnold's gi eat strengths is that he just cries out
for exi mil 1 .': 'jr.. But let's face it there's a, limit to how much you can
have coming out of his dem ere. and the V onex boards are some-

r beLngiiuitoinvisible. Remember,
nth Arnold's insides will invalidate

how all the more impressive
though, that fiddling arourn
yout guarantee;

After all mis, it's no surprise that when asked to review the
boards for Amstrad Action I went all out for the lop-of-the-range
SP-512. However, ail the boards are broadly similar in operation
and we vfr printed a chan showing the different configurations
and ieatures ofeachmoc.£ I

The Vflrle* SP5 I 2, ouKide 'fie Af notd.

Getting Started

The first reassuring bit of news is that tht? board is very easy to fit.
provided you know one end of a screwdriver from another All
you do n unscrew your faithful friend's casing screws, separate
the mouldings, and whip our a couple of chips You then shove
these into specially prepared sockets on the Vonex hoard, ping it
in and screw everything back up .again

It may sound risky, out for once I have to take my hat off to a
manufacturer who's really taken trouble with the manual "llie
procedure is described in absolutely fool-proof terms, and if you
gel the screws out and then find yourself getting confused then
can say is that your screws must be even looser than the
computers.

Once you've got the tlung installed, ycu can then use the

ware supplied on cassette ic patch - your CP/M disc (if you've
got a disc drive) so thai it can make use of the extra memory There
a re in fact 3ome areas of incompatibility here the effect of i nereis
mg the CP/M memory space is to inte rfere slig ht I y w i < h some of the
internal mechanics of the CP/M system The Vortex software en-
ables most of these to be overcome, but some of *he CP/M utilities.

i <m DDT. can cause problems if you try to use them with the
extra RAM paged in. Must normal applications will not be affected,

28 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION .

ver.
The beat thing about the CP/M software is how easy it is to jse
Most of us spend qui lives trying no; ;0 understand things like

. . : i MOVCPM. I Vortex manual actu illy takes

ughthe whole process step by step even including
screenshots of the different promp:s : By the time you've finish
you've created a new CP/M system disc 'ri.it can make full use of all
thai gorg e ous memory

Amstrad Mega-
BA5IC!

The real joy of the Vortex boards For most people will be thew
ennances BASIC progr raining The BASIC operating software is
Supplied onROMu ooardsexcepi the SP64*M (which ha;:

it or. caSffietii irovidss a whopping 37 ss/.ia. commands, tn

fact it 5 this Sldn • ge that impressed me most arid 1

reckon iitat the BOS software [as Vortex call .: la nothing short of

:nir acoloua

The feci is [hat I already own a 258K memory ejcpansion board
bull think anyone eh; •■ ^onewillunderstandwhyii

e litre en the cupboard instead of being plugged into Arnold
Truth to tell it's re;illy nol that useful because the only thing i can
usaitlof in BASlCis data-borage. What I can "rdo is write 35GK '.:
BASIC programs

i ciui with the Vortex board. Even better I am have nine
completely different BASIC prog: ams. each up to 32K long, resi-
dent in miHTnnry simultaneously fl s aD done using a set ofRSXs
which include I GOTO Sank number, line numbei; |GOSUB.bank

riser lme number, and [RETURN. These three
allow you to call BASIC i in different bank Braoxe.

using the ] COMMON command n share Traii-

a b - ea >r not as you dec-,- .

Just to show you how one might ■■ the

Mtowmg commands to si ...:.... ien>

oiy smruJianeously:
1 3ANFU ; KEMSelecis Bank number 1

10 PRINT "THIS PROGRAM IS STORED IN BANK NUMBER I";
[KETOBN

j BANK 5: REMSwirchover to3unk5. leaving the program ;n Rank
1

ID PRINT THIS PROGRAM IS STORED IN SANK NTJM
[RETURN

I BANE C Ri h over to Bank leaving bath die previous

p rograms in memory

■ ring iCOSUB.i - 5, !0I could call- ■

oflhcseniini-prograrrisinturn Since the | GOSUB command spec-
ifiesthe line number as well as eethatpi

in different banks cain have Use same line numbers withe
clashing

I' you 1 re into machine code. Ifcen there's an extended CALL
command as swell ilini operates in a similar way so | GOSUB. but
allows you to pass parameters as well as specify which hank
you ra Galling You ^iso get. as a special tonus, a built-in monitor
wiiii one-line assembly and all tha usual monitor functions for
tnaiupulahno and displaying mem

Rgmdisc

j .-..: eady have a disc system, then you can use thene i

^iand RAMD1SC to formal your extra memory just as you

;rmat an ordinary disc. Using the RAMDL5C. however

iuce the amount of RAM available for BASIC, and you may

j use the system in "pseudo-floppy mode', which means

mmands |RAMREAD RAMWR1TE etc. In this mc
ex board opera i fashion to other mem-

i ■ o the syst em u sed for swapping banks on the

; .-:

QIC

ogs on under CP/M as drive C I don't think ] n
iboutn.excf:: it compared to the

-.-ty Youjusthaveto make sure you den' J switch off
: re transferring your data onto a Loppy!

Video Ram

Jc.;r one last ten. vou ooor unf :

nates who have n e of these boards I can now (with the S3 ''

512) store up to ) 7 different screens and then swap between them
a* will. Screen swapping takes abcut a third or a second, so thai
can't really animate screens but it's sail preiiy quick
I o pul i he icing on. the cake yo u even ge i some extended
hies commands, such .j.; | FRAME which synchronises print-
ing tc the screen with the frame-flyback, thereby making your
graphics entirely 3ickei free There s even anintr guing [FAS!
command, ■•a-v speeds up screen cutput quit rally

(though it can I be use 1 with windows)

GCHAR fetches a character vslue fromthescre pven

co-ordinate: tGPAPER and CPEM select graphics background
and foreground colours; |MASK and JNMASK enables you to
define a binary masking pattern i$i I:nes and points - noi lerr ibfy
useful ss a t u le bu t nice I o have just in case

Drawbacks

None Or at least very few The! he variability of

iatch some of your BASIC

ox machine code programs to allow for th* > HIMEM varies

•.■.■ \ .ether 3aafc or one of the other banks La

switched in. If you use me extra memci y li ■ sJore son iens, II en

HfMEM drops I istic yk If "■-

1 r.e OLler annoyances i ana it reslly t&*' I Ud : "= j 1 1

[hem ihHi Ronsrde-ring whnt you gel in return) are that SYMBOL
AFTER doesn't work any more if you're working under BOS r ^od
that there are some difficulties jssing CP/M with the exira memory.
.,i! Amstrad ™:p,e!sienlalion doesn 1 ! expect so
much memory. The Vortex software tnkes care of tr.ost: of ft:e
incompaiibiliiy.butyou msy find ±ie occasional pioy. rips

over

Expanded BASIC

BANK BASIC BOS CALL
COMMON D£V FAST FfiAME
GCHAH GOSU&OOTO GPAPER
GPEN ID LIST LOAD MASK MON
NEW PEEK POK£ RAMCLOSE
RAMFlELDRAMOPf N RAMREAD

Commands

RAM WRITE RECOAOS ftETURN
RUNSAveSCHEIN.lN
SCREEN.OUT SCREENS SLOW
SPOOLON SPOOLOFf
UNMASK VIDEO^ON VIDEO.OFF

Conclusion

I'm afraid thol this product is bad
news far my bank balance, It'i the
first memo? y enhancement system
fat Arnold itial I would seriously

consider buying and using on a
regular bails. The RAMQI5C alone
is obviously attractive^ but the
opportunities for extended 6ASIC
programming ore unbeatable.
As the privileged owner of
both a 4&4 and a 6 1 28 r I ecm'l
waif for a 6 1 28 version to

become o vci I o bte. The

combir^ ricn of b^>5f -'" »:opp j and
buiU-in RAMDISC wodd be of
tremendous proclfcol value.

We journalists tend tobea
bit hesitant obovt actually poying
For things - -^e prefer to try and
wongle freebies from publicity-
hungry manufacturers. In this cose,
however, I make on exception. If I
cari't wangle one, I'll be first in the
queue to buy one.

Specifications

Expandable

■o

i->

o
a.

yes

*«

Space for Bask

64K

96K

160K

192K

288K

Space for CP/M

60K

60 K

60K

RAM Floppy

none

64K

192K

256K

448K

Operating s/wore j

cosMtta

ROM

for BASIC

All boordshave a 32K prii

ni buffer

(about 15 A4poges|.

,MSTR AD ACTION MARCH 1 986 29

DR Dra w & DR Graph

Computer giants Digital Research -the people who brought you CP/M —
have converted some of their programs for Arnold at a very competitive
price. Steve Cooke goes drawing and graphing.

DR Draw and DR Graph

Digital Research, £49. 95 each, disc only
CPCG128,FCW8256

Digital Research have beeswaxing lyrical abort their Amstrad

-.:! naLa range reoeatty.and eveaweHtto the unusual length
01 taking a stand at the Amstrad Show in January *c diaplayoff their
war«s. DR nor mail /stick toser vicing the ausmess mar lie;, so their
move into Amstrad-larid could mean the arrival cf some impress-
ive up-market software at reasonable prices..

DR'Drawand DR Graph both fall into the increasingly popular
46;95 orice-oracket for Amstrad CP;'M programs. Both packages
are aimed squarely at the business user, but even if you're not the
commercial type you may have been wondering what sort of
drawing package you get for fifty smackers . so read on. . .

Firs: the bad news. Sineo they require the? GSX graphics
extension to operate, you're won't ge? them up and running on
anything other than a 6 1 28 or PCWS255 In practise, however . this
is unlikely :c limit their appeal . since most businessmen probably
wouldn't have a -164 or 664 anyway.

Assuming, however, you've got the necessary hardware,
whafdo you- get? We'll poke our noses w^DRDxawf&st since this
is die package that 's most likely to have the broaden appeal.

Most home micros have by now acquired seme pretty stunn-
ing graphics programs. Even the humble Spectrum has title;;
The Artist which can give you everything from patterned Site to
spray-paint options. Drawing programs, however, are a rather
different d: eed - ratner than treat the screen as a canvas on which
you can splash colour and light , moy l : eat it as a designer's layout
sheet, divided into a grid on which various different drawing
elements can be placed-

To make- the difference e'ear, imagine you had to use a 'paint '
prog: am (like Kuma's Artwork, for example) to produce the ill-
ustration in Fig . 1 You would have no opt ion but to use the CIRCLE ,
LIME, and PLOT functions to build up the entire imago bil by bit.
The final image is a single clement, with each section individually
drawn.

Using a draw-type program, however you buhd. up : your
image using different elements. The bicycle, for example has
three identical elements consisting of segmented cu cles which
form the two wheels and. the chain sprocket Draw programs
enable you to create elements like these and ".hen replicate them
using different horizontal and vertical scaling if desired, any-
where on the 'grid'. The final image is a collection of individual
elements, each of which can he edited, saved lo disc, shrunk,
enlarged, and otherwise manipulated quite separately from the
-■-."' of the display

This approach obviously has enormaus benefits for certain
typos of illust: aucn but for it to be successful . the DRAW program
has to offer no: only a widi range ol features but also a very
friendly user -interface . As a general rule ■■•'.' c: such a

program is sot so concerned with the creative aspect of screen

go, but with saving time and at the same cimo maintaining a
tnghrdegree of technical accuracy with regard to scale, perspec-
tive . and image al ignment

Unfortunately 'although DR Draw is very easy and quick to
use . it has some annoying drawbacks, The first is in setting i< ill up
Installation involves copying about 20 nlea from the master disc

onto two separate discs and is very poorly explained, CP/M af-
fkionados will not experience any problems here but for the
i] dive user suci problems as the creation cf an appropriate
ASSIGN SYS file will almost certainly invoke a lot of head-

Figure 1

scratching.

Foi example , DR Dra wis set up so that it will edit in one screen
mode and output in anoi her . You can therefore create your mas-
lerpiece using Mode i and then display il on a Mode 2 screen but i;
you want (as I did) to develop images on the Mode 2 screen, you
have to siter the ASSIGN file, and there iis very little clear inforrn-
attan in the documentation on how to do I his

The next drawback concerns printed output. The program
uses the GSX graphics extension io drive the screen display,
printer , and plotter (il you have one) However, you ciin only use
GSX i! a 'driver' is provided for you particular output device

30 MARCH ! 986 AMSTRAD ACTION**™* *,-

Drivers are provided for screen modes 0.1, and Z. but when it
es lo printers you ma 1 m ted to the Amsfrad DMt*1 Epson
compatibles. S^ir.wa media msms and Hewlett-Packard plotters
Although this does cov< most populai configurations, you

may at ... 5nd yourself with an incompatible printer ii you're un-
lucky. Certainly rr.y feeling is that for £43 95 (here should I
rider selection.

Design ©laments in DR Oraw fall into seven main categ< i h i
[reel 1 1- . ; ■ ■ -i as, lines, polygons text, and markers.
The las: category simply provides a small selection ofsyrnbols that
canbeuaedf' picking out or em] tiaia jpai sofa drawing
;lie othei categories can be drawn, scaled moved, copied, de-

•H and saved as desired durin i ima i ■- i >mp< sition, A op
ationa -ire effected upon the current element, which is the last
• ■ tient created unless otherwise specified

1 Eoj mate]/, although you can specify which •■ anon!
should be the cut rem element, what you can i do is combine
elements to form more complex ones. For example :t would bo
nice it you could, using the CIRCLE and UK £ fUnciions, create our
t icycle wheel asm f'tg I and then define the wheel as an e lementin
its own right, I hiswouldsavealoi of lime but ciocsnot appear lobe
implemented \n DR Draw

There are seven differed" type-fonts available, though to be
honest none of them Is pa te. there are a wide

vdf ieiy of fill patterns, and in Mcce I there are also of course
colours to play around with whii h can rnal eabig • renca in

ii, : i Hm ■'in.il iiii.i'j*. though youwon'ibeabletoreflectthai
liffe : j'nee on hard copy unless you've got a colour printer.

'I he program is, howuvcr, very ea^y iu use ones set up and
I- spite a rather largo number of sub-menus the uaei ram- create
accurate displays quite quickly Twodiffereni gridsizesaie avail-
able in each I .liowmgyoi. precisionin

! i.i''iii' - f ■! ill :.;• i n rhe h nr cursoi

quickly 'in. sn oihlyandis as as well as

plot points, A "SNAF function wili sirag the cursor instantly to ihe
nearest grit; co-ordinate when plotting points if desired. Turning
off SNAP" allows you to position points to pixel-accuracy Dither
between or on *.he grid-pcrnis. bus using the grid is a quick and
easy way of alio without having to laboriously ca

late pixel positu:

Unfortunately a number of element manipulation rune,
tend to erase the grid raa rkmga which are not re ed unte s_-

ii ■ I'M DRAW option is selected [fyou"reusingmemoreci&t. ; i]ied
grid then RE] 5RA W takes an annoying amount ■ ne to replot all
the points b ef o re a o w j y ou i c c ontinue ,

DR Draw is difficult to gei p and i inning, but easy to use
thereafter arm is paj tieulai y well suited to the creation of flow-
d .I'H.ims, certain types of technical drawings and other illiist
rationsihat lend themselves to the 'bit-by-bi a] ■ ich It'sfuntc

but for most people a cbeapei paint-type program may well
be more attractive

DR Graph

DR Graph, as its name suggests la a unit ly program for transform-
ing numeric c:am iritc diagrammatic information Using the
program youcan create line graphs, ha r graphs, pie graphs. s:ep
graphs and so on io display data entered either manually or
i m ported from Visicafc oi afcdata files.

Like DRDraw, this p i < < n ,<m requires the CSX gt aptUcse)

sion <m<i so is not a candidate lei -!< ; ■ Qfi Draw.

however its use is rathe i :uui i ■ .• ■ .ni.i at £49 95 la ujj

hke ire the gas a al :mr rushing down to the shops with

i inticipation

If, however you have" a copy c>J Vitsicxfco? SupercaJIdthSt you

i.- already using proficiently and you regularly need to < n i ■ i •

complex graphs then it may be wot !ha look Bear in mind however

it;, a you will still have to ensure that your ;• • trpatiblewith

the GSX drivers provided

An»u AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 31

Let there be music

Pete Connor tinkers with The Musk System. Does it have power to soothe
savage beasts? Can It make every man his own Mozart?

THE MUSIC SYSTEM

Rainbi rd , £ 1 S.95 cass . £ 1 9 .95 disc
CPC 464, 664, 6128

:his

;graiti for the firs! tune should immediately

hook the Arastrad up to the auxiliary plugs of <s hi-fi system and
load one of Lie tunes from the 5cccr™:iying Sound and Bot.q
library Ycu 11 get a blast ■ ■: i uly staggering music i l< ten o*
i i Mast pi Lad Zep, a burst of B* lues whlct
irrl'j' open y:--tir .i i! ■ great potential of this excellent
program

,' ft : /J , . < risaetx] executed package th; 1 1 a I Iowa

you to compose music either, by playing the keyboard or by enter-
ed! y on the stavo It r ea ll y is ver y simple to got goinq
HllhouehrrialdngthcTnoslof it will require tir le^sta:

musir.;" knowledge,

Simplicity of use is helped greatly by the use of those :at;r.i : n-
^ible computet features icons and p.: co-down menus In Hw ■ Musi
5y?" e than just window dressing: they make tfat

r©r just pretty 1 ■ ok at (which it is) but clear to use
Loud ny leprogi mi presents you with a screen divide*! into
■ distinct blocks fl -jea up by the V

Monitor Window;, herinafter referral to as the VMW. This dia-
:■•- the staves ou which youi music is entered and can be
scrolled along as you enter more net-
Below the VMW is the p:ano keyboard, corresponding tc the
top two r^ws of i hR computer's keyboard, He; e you can doodle
.;way at tunes df compere, y: I on the

VMW as you play

On the i tght of the display ar** three boxes The top one
contains three bars representing each of the Arnstrad s voict
sound charui its you can only compose in one C" '

: Lrea with three icons The first i
showing whetheryousri hngorplti

you arc using m the middle I ; four free

apace ituXtsupasyoucompc • 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 of 100C full ~i ■

per vc-j.-' Oi the right is the metronome, which regulates ihe

,' tiu can set this from «dnajl' space ap to aprasrisaurjp
beats per minute

Thy bottom right boxshows you three rows The first enables
to niter the volume of each .sound channel, the second to alter
the envelope [mi <ti iieteisand the third the octave So these last two
i n you can change tire kind of sound you qe! and the pitch of it
ting aroun I with them can give you Ihe sort o: synthesiser
■ sReets that ,i few years ag< > would have needed a very expensive
i:, htae At the very top oi the screen, above the VMW i,; the
!■ ..! .1 hue, which presents you with pop-down menus at the
| it . vl: of a function key Values^ for inst-.ir: : ie wtl 1 allow you to al > ■ \
the key si* rra ire, tune eigpai n tempo and much more of the
music you ate composing. Or, indeed, have composed. Thus you
can write a piece in a very alow tempo but play n back as if t:
were no tcmo r row .

Composing

Two waya to do this from Ihe keyboard, oi by entering note*
directly on ihe staves. With Ihe Efrsi method f le note youplay and
i ; ■ - ■ : or. the key boa rd is Immediately < i htptayed in the VMW . hi the
second mat hod, you begin with a note, on the stave By using the
soi kaysyou can change its position, mid wiiJithe function keys
• ; v.i ie . ft the length ofthe note whethei It's sharp or
flat, where the boat faTls '-i relancn to:toi<-. When ymi'resatisfied
press Enter and the note is fixed . The same method is uaed to alter
iiinea you" ve aiready composedand stor^i :

When you've composed and recorded as much music as you
want you return intiiokeguTnmg. pressfOand the music will play,

| filet faliw C—aats Iifa|

This alone is pre* itifyoupressShrft + tOrhemusic

noi only plays but the notes scroll through Ihe VMW as they are
heard This function alone should make Tne Music Syi
invaluable aid to an) rti lying rjuatmaking rnusio.

With thi so different sound ohanselsani theabihryto synthes-
.-.■ sound thelimitatioiisofahonic o iputerdon'tseemtoobadai
fill. But you arc recommwided to feed the .sound through a hi-fi
system it makes a big djfferena >

The system can be as tomplex or as basic us you want it to be.
Those who don't know a quaver from « wobble could find ft just *
little sophisticated, but it doesn't take much musical knowledge to
get a lot of pteusun? arid tosiruction from it I he only thing I could
play was the hrst two bars of Mt*titfy we roil ahntj bul my 32
fison that pcirticulai iheme gave t one ei3e a lot of

pleasure And it you re .: I ■:'. just load a ao .

from the library a | ossible,

It v.'ill liike a whi.e to become I «n tiar With the systeni, bul ii
eomes with a thorough and vet y clear manual thut should get you

■■■ i ;..■• try quickly Rambird lar« planning ior< ■ it £29.93
on di.- : '.' i ■ ■ Advanced Music System - this will be ahle to w i
comptwitions to a printer, and will have a file linke: to croi
longer pieces of music Owners of the first version will be ai)le to
upgradefor Ihe difference in price

[

►- Very user-friendly

> As sophisticated or as simple as you like

► Displays your music a » It's play ed

► Needs hi-fi output to really show Us paces

32 MARCH 1986AMSTR AD ACTION rti ■ ■■ -.■ - WffW ii:.,

THE ALL-ACTION

REVIEWING SYSTEM

There's an outstanding Mostergame this month. Spin-
dizzy is stupendous, not just because of its size, but
because of the qualify and itickness of its graphics and
gamepiay.

There are some top notch raves as well, covering
every taste from desperate combat — ground and air — to
mental puzzling. If you don't see something here that
takes your fancy, it's unlikely you'll ever find a game to
suit you.

But there's also quite a bit of rough stuff around. We
haven't spared anyone's feelings - if a game stinks, we
say so. We don't like to do it, but it's our duty. Because
Action Test is all about letting you know what's worth
your hard-earned cash.

I , EXPERT C AMEPLA Y . it's h ■ i d a

■ -r w .|-{»^,.:.:!.n l->,:h VV :plte

i ■ :■ rnenfieason I • ■>:■;■/■

. . irhiat.ry ©very
h& i)K?y jwy down (hes BW

: Shear . ^viewers c&nl to'-ica

3. EXTRA OPINIONS, ft s alway erous to rely on jus* er>e

- : noimotisly .tire game* we review get

i! ■.- at Leas! i .-. a peop'.e i . ii irvaro bytfirfie. No! shly

leanyoueanreatiAna -ond

....... ::■-...-.:. i-ingp iromkre reliable

-arrive: process of defcaie anss
concerned:

3. LABELLED SCREEN SHOTS. It s obvious '^r.i to prin!

■• but often t] nake sense of Label-

the different elements can make nil ihe dj

. ttgh the ar. depaLtmen: an cncri

i - --yds;.

4. CLEAR SUMMARIES- Ever read a review where yov end^c up
pretty unsure o i the i ev teweJ' a uwei *<; make Our t;v; ;,i

fty rx:r.T v/c inclucte a'CORdse summary -:■: -hem
. ..-■':;■ .J id news i Lr.

5. RATINGS BOXES. V, - :;

- • .■ • ■ work

iptobe- . ■ see atagtance which are g
vft :'. ■ Oiir rarin, i do thb? -

fe.: lung t-arswiih dark tj|

AA Ratings - how they work —

We V6 come up with fiv
eat he.id:nqs which, we reckon,
cover aH that a important about <a
game The b&s$ important
final nne which represents our
overall .iKsossmenT ot r Games
which score 3»J C n r*r higher earn
the much sough* after labe* d! A A
AVE, while thr highest rated
" In SUjy mssnii beiximes our
MASTERCAME we go through
agonies before selecting (hsl
one

The ratings categories .ire
meant to be fairly self
inatory. but thflt ws?ni Why
we didn't print anything abci::
them Ids* issue we just ran out of
space' So here are the missing
,.-..tj.- Hopefully you'll
categories make a re-
freshing chdiiqe from the us'.i.i]
GRAPHICS is ihe first category

Basically. this mean3..et whai the
pros looks Idee; colour, definition
animation, imagination, it's safe to
say that monochrome Kc u jbts and
Crosses will score fairly low
SON1CS nejtl Sweet ssiac
fete noise silence, all 'mil be raae i
or quality and quantity This -
involves the use cleats

CRAB FACTOR .':, r Vr
like this one Does the game reath
GRAB you? Are you hooked? Will
you miss an episode of The
Archers to play it? High Grab
Factor means thai ihe whole ofr.ee
abandons work. Bob Wade who-
ops with delight and even Ihe
publisher looks mildly pleased.
100% means the game is more
addictive than cider
STAYING POWER You may hswe
got the babit, bui how loner are you
going to keep it? Staying Power

MASTERGAME

Spindizzy Electric Dreams

AA RAVES

Sltyfox Ariolasoft

Tank Command AfTISOfT

Run for Gold Hill MacGibbon
Daley Thompson's
Supertest Ocean

Think Ariolasoft

Spellbound Mastertronic
Who Dares Wins II Alligata

34
34
40

44
44
56
56

GAMES TESTED

Speculator Collins/Brainstorm 36
Ping Pong Imagine 36

Ricochet Brittania 37

Tuba Rub a Blaby 39

Play Your Cards Advance

Right Software Promotions 42
KokotoniWilf Elite 42

Match Point Psion 47

Winter Sports Electric Dreams 48
One Man tit his 48

Droid Mastertronic 49

Zania Myrrdin /Screen Micro 50
Contraption Audiogenic/lcon 53

Diamond Mine Blue Ribbon 53

Castle Assault Blue Ribbon 53
Screwball Blue Ribbon 54

Grumpy Gumphrey Gremlin 56
Rally Driver Hill MacGibbon 56
Wreckless Roger Blaby 63

Astro Plumber Blue Ribbon 65
The Real You Collins 65

relis ycu how cites you're hkely to
return to a game. That depends on
such, matters as the number of
screens ana levels, The variety of
the task, the degree of long-term
chaTfeftge. An addictive game with
only a coupie of screens
gel a high Grab Factor and low
Staying Power, ane with a 1000-
screon plnying area but lacking in
playahiuiv would be the other way
round.

AA RATING Nothing to do with
cars This is the resul; of a very
hard sum involving all the crher
ranngs pte Sactors tike price,
quality ot packaging and instruc-

Compatibility

All programs this month are com-
patible across the range of 464.
664, 6128. In each, case we've
either tested them ourselves or
confirmed it with the software
hoiises.

tions. reliability and any o*iie; re-
lev.iTll fciraiTrs ws can * hink of You
wont go Jar wrong with any game

cm . r Sf, ■

Flight simulators and aicad^ ga.-r.es zmimue

Tur in nature .Although this out
cm '1 :' ihe shoal om up it Contains

many e.etnenis or Hying skill and s-raicgy
The other mtngiimg factor is the mixti ;
cprou otb tanks and

planes instead of just the usual -■

This! hist <ask thai awaits you is to choose
from! ;©!e3andlSS

determine what sort "■ 3
mission fee. Skyftttr fighter iss* nere

are seven training missions v/here the skills -
ra*~dt.:d to ds«al wfil " '" : ':". air and ground tar-
getscanbe learnl befoi " "-. ring on one : -

t invasions where she enemy will throw

s forces at youai cnce.

Fv«l

SECOND OPINION

, r fcun d tilis one of the more eagi osss'ng High !
simuiafor/CQmtw Q-amss available Tor ffiB
Am old particularly heea use you can gn 1
iti to it immedia tely, hu ( still hn v& a song wfi y
to go to achieve ihe highei 1 unkings.
D&$pjt& the slightly tmaatisf&ciary graphics
there 's stttf a lo f ptsa '\sfaciion TO be hid 111
zapping the enemy

■ arts at a home base to which

..ni j! any fir
•?hed thr:v:;:-jr an unconv rattel

effec: and depending en the mission can be
.munched low to a view of the ground w Ltb n
hlli-eoveted hoiiaon £ to a blue sky

-"■i"i- i: yi ng

around il.

mid ngb* turning and diving i - * 1

: HC113-
wn accord m da below

vuu pai ocularly diulc-uli to hit

pes of
>.r- ,,rr 'rsrwird laiitK I
Tmn lasar cannon r.ply

ni irnmo but there are also Urni

ed and heat-seeking missiles for the

irgni These are all easily

used ng to be

'hough tJi ■

'.■ . :-.

00.

In invasion it.
can be Stopped by tow-flying
whinh have to be de."a:t with quickiy before
odds against Skyfax Ico

overwhelming That's the bones ot the game

flying ;iro'ind zappir
who usually come in groups of more than
es T Iia? opes jum-

puTercc

The display is packed with information

AfKSOlr mqit LoijicfUM dish only |0 nlict or key*

■

Ion !!i.

apps

I
■ - of positions en the 1 1 . ive to

be reached in your

out having yoi

the picturesque landscape.

There are two main phases and vie .
1
over] bw and tl

. om the tui
The. reen

show
The landscape consists of open cous

1
minor feature
these at vai ying speeds - including the I

r-ases between screens
the disk drive whirrs and the nev

6 screens can be

revealed enemy die and the ne»

iy will r ' "-."

Tank

-1 target ir equipped wnh cliff
ia of armour whicl he ham

from
lis The 1,
by changing ihft elevation en the gun and

voui

Tl,., Li rnoie attractive than the map
screens wi*h some derailed sc<

s place Th*?njireican
'eited 360 degree ■
ground scrolling reason you

mov . ?ray ca~ w h e re around

you so firsi they have to be got into view and
then ihet: range lounc They can be
to you ; i
lew 01 an-ywhetebeiwaenihei
fare . Ihoyare ver; - Liiiill

34 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION vte<*m**

The' e ore five types of enemy *eopon ihoV
have different thicknesies of ormouf ond
speed,

can move oround at spcec
but only hove two units of ormouf . Don'l
pack modi punch.

have lis unit) of armour
and can still move quite foil. Much more
formidable.

eight units of armour but ca
be caught while they're not moving much.
8c were getting clow lo them or they'll reo
let you have (h

Q only three units of

armour but plenty of manoeuvre bility and

fl/OpOWQf.

Four units
armour and don't move. Con cause much
damage since they usually come irt pairs
threes and fire fast.

ja radar scanner jhatoperales aver-
forward a

sHuattan, a clock cf elapsed g
time, Fuel indicator speed indicator, s!
indicator, ait i i guidedand heat

seeking misane counts ma{ coordinates arid
■ impaes heading the . piiot

/cu roth^ next target white you take
■ or checkup on the
The. con.-

L'iOn not letul of which is a
map of the whole playing area showing the
eaei. rrr.mons and your own uisiail-

irninc the battlefield in de-
ou jsections or set thi
piloi for j pai ticular square Thistacucai map
18 invaluable lor relet

vliere lo takes Sky-
The computet also allows
i.-ma:y of
damage received and inflicted and
port;:: on the status of installation* r: . h»

Th<& Indiana lion* and ba i per-

• jwn by the i

rc-yed.SI
'■e landed at the home base but n I

I
All .ruon will keep you

pied but not so thai you won't notice
RomR rather odd
planes look all right . ugetclo!

I ul :n 7ie disianf:c or wl y ex-

■ . .

evexoneedof
sprite designer, The sound isn'r

overwhelms with engine noise.

explosions and warning noises.

These slight grumbles apart tfee • I
still lias Ion of depth and with a the different
scenarios and ranks will kesp you busy far
many long hours of combat

1 5 different missions.

Different d if ft cu I tic b and m i 5 1 i one
mean any skill of playe* can enjoy it.

Excellent range of controls and
features.

Inters itln r| graph J cs cm the ground
when close to target.

Plenty of depth and lasting challenge

Some graphics are indistinct and

btoeky,

Will lake Urn e to f amillarifie y o nsielf
with key controls.

I GRAPHICS

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAVING POWER

A A RATING

—T
1%

s%F,S

a 1%

The '5 missions In ih.
fco ^d .rise, J^ 3= S M o* wf „ ^

W yew proyert *** n »o*f»«hrpsJ

end

owordfeapp* ^screen,

Print - bnghily toui

may still loose off d !a*i shot befon

■ apyaid

a sol-

. 1] driv? up I - eep,

, ahite you before yn-;:

ivw of these-'

hi.ch will .

.....

Use .

aa too
high ::.. ly be severely :

tnti! it cools down

While whtxzmg around you ne-
me : ami: ii r w ?uon

where the snemj

same place On : ross

\cements and tanks may appear by

them and present a dangerous l ■: Jran

jp up in the middle oi a road

you ... tig

oendc:
.

■sporredaiK'- einsnare

hen iho lank is ihrown
n:o the tray with even moro ol
enomy m greater concentrations

A: fue; siq'::: She graphics, sound and
garaepiay are pietty ordinary bui what

me absorbi
nature of the task of ba

n 1 the inCTeasmc; difficulty©'

iMMinngi AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 35

already tough computet Opponent, The
; amic views are detailed and the fight-
ing that take? place on them required afciiJ to
minimise damage :o tile '.aiik A worthy ad
nil ion lo ihe Gold -ar.oe tha: Will please most
Sisk owners

► Well designed map and features.

► Good panoramic views.

* To ugh tank opponents that get tougher
in numbers.

P- Absorbing task as you fight from
soldier to soldier.

► Tape own era will ha veto wait for a
version of the game for once.

> A larger playing area would have been
nice-

GRAPHICS

SOKICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAV IN G POWER

A A RATING

STOCK MARKET
SPECULATOR

Brain Power-Collins Snh. £17 85 cass. keys only

This isn' ! . one of those simple gHTr.es where
you deal casually in oil gold, gems and mts-
siles and make -i ; r-.v bin ion pounds

overnight h'sa full blown H.mLia:ie:i ol c r . i
■ng in the stock marker I an see the pound
signs glinting in your eyes already, you
greedy bunch. Of caplfcalissj. lust ieine:±?t
its a game and the real tiling is always mora
unpredictable than a sinmlatiori otherwise
ould Bariousl y dam age voi i r w aalth
One lo three players can take part on one
of Com diflere; : v- Isfrora an idle dabbler
.n inhcritanceof £3 D ,000 to p ay with to a
pension fund manager whs has to manage a
«lio of £5 mi II ion On each- level VOU
a with a different amount of cash ana
shares to handle and a frequency of citing
wkh them from twice a day to once a month,
The game always begins on 13th January
1 t*66 and could go on for mondts and y
pai icularly since you can save Uietianje,
The playfirs dertK in the shares of 48corti
is, allofiliemreaJ and each with aw
up on "heir backgi *und at Ehe bac
instruction booklet Initially the list of options
is horribly daunting but with .., iiRJe patience
they can be worked through, particularly i-
yoti go -hrongh '.he main menu Step by step

I i,. has six choices an it: examine portfolio.
Company list, stockbroker, details gel
and done, the last ol these ending the current
gainejum

The portfolio is your collection of shares
anc when examined it will reveal how your
shares have changed after the last lum. The
company ;sst will show the fortunes oral! the
other companies as well so thai die fast
movers and big losers can be identified The
next option is yam stockbroker and he can
providelotimore inter ©stinginformation

SECOND OPINION

j r r is hard ro comment on a gutue like This

■a- p<;}v>ngitiarda.Yg$3$.Gnd Bat here.
goes, anyway, i: s oert&inly vei y ci
designed, ,wd can become engross::: g
you stick <?,' J.*. 1: s nica to se& isa: the
OBttipaniesam io,ii ones, iustoed ot a load of
fiCJittoos nonafsns&. Playing the game contd
be good (mining fot the real thing-
PC

. . ■ : - ■-.-. ;.-. or, orders

youhaveplao. ifor.j tores ratec^reerri turn

and r i dee on witai company to

die exueoted and how they will affect
the share p i 1 -"■ • ■ f '■' :,r ' toli o s ttmmary' to % r ow
tout overall oosition a perfonrtanco rating

PINGPONG

Imagine, K ana mt, £8.95 cass, joystick only

Computer games have come a .ong way in
-si few years and there's: no better high-
light than the comparison between those old
games where you had two white linestbrbars
and a white dot for a ball and this all-action
t«bi« tenttis simulation in 3D, This gam
skill and quick reactions may not have inuch
complexity or (iopt-h but it's fai" i and

fun.

SECOND OPINION

Verygoodfm o rtninly mora ping than
■ 1 &e ep sphtcs rrsembit* very ctotely
3»de version, which nwwms they're
veiy sharp and cl&ar Th& flouting, severed
bunds are an a;misir.ij touch and i; 's s rieliei
not to b& ve :o chase :ho tail as well as decide
on yo-irxho: D&sptfeallthiS user
friendfihem IsiiUl mix! i; pretty
tfmllenQ i thebesu

sin kmd or the A tnati •■:

The display allows the view it-.
one end oldie rabie, much as a camera would
on TV The per^pecjjve tapers the table titid
at each end there is* a ghostly floating hand
holding a bat This may strike you as a littie
odd at first but st soon becomes clear th a: IPs
essential to allow you to see the ball and table
all ihe time. And it actually look* good as the
hands asp around the play area

There are one or two player games and

36 MARCH I G8fi AMSTRAD ACTION"

Hnw (ht* win cx»d k)»a

"icvtrHj from fcf
<i«ybMird

en a graph against ±a FT index and percen-
tage perfcrrrmace against the bui
societies aiidfiTv?Hy an analyaiso) e ■
manca of particiilar groups of Companies
The most valuable of these each nmp is the
advice, r:Lo;il of me others only being iefe:
rsdtOC :.i.,.jujidily

getnews'O] I e latest

newt from the Finan ■ but

Thwir' ;y ttaup tod t /

■iriY stage it:,

you can access T/ie details section where nn
individual company tniormatic-n screen csn
bebrouyli .<nd shares bough land

sold.

The menus and (8X1 ate presented in a
likew ■V!'-;i - :.]j wat:.- ujlto

appeal on its looks or sound The gan:e .s
very involved and .-.:.■-■ some while to get
ii.".- and p iy butpmvtdesagoodtiiintlhilicrn
Tin- main prctoJem is of course lliat Ihere's no
risk, which his always been the fascination of
gambling, and hke ail computer games can
be very predictable once you re famihar
wuh it. Bndding capitalists and money hoar-
ders should give it a look.

G Q Q D HEWS

► A realistic and involved simulation.

*- Plenty to occupy your mind with lots of
options and figures to handle.

► Well packaged! and good instructions
to guide through the jargon.

► The real thing isn't as predictable as

the game.

>■ May be too heavy and complicated for

many.

five icvelacf skill m each. The skill k-v-
fectsthe speed of ihe gains and on the lougfc-
est two the computer realiy gelsv&ry difficult

to beat or even score agains; The winner of
$ame is me fix« player to reach 1 1

points or to establish a two point lead if they
get to .10 all Cacr: player hAsfrve services is a
row before hsnrftn-CT over for the- other

in the two plays* game ihe contest is the
bes: of three games with one player being
able -o play on the keyboard if desired hi one
player gsmes you a re always at the near end
of fee effort but wife two players being at the
far end ys a disanot disadvantage and so they
aUrertsata eswls between games.

When in play the ba^ will automatically
nadfcthe ball leaving the player to decide an
his strdfee. This eat bs played either fcro-
haad cr backhand [aimed ngtrt or left) ana
with top or back spin, A smash can also be
used against your opponent's lobs with your
own lobs being produced by good/bad tun-
ing of your oi'dinai y strokes. Shots can hit the
net, land' Out of court, be completely missed.,
returned, by your opponent. Or you can do
-Time to him.

There is an additional scoring system to

■ -me points • every :ime yen hit the ball

rore goes up by ten. This leads io a

; J rather odd situation where the longer you

■ j can keep rallies and games going the higher

/ the score, whereas quick emcien: games -or

your pan will be bw. scoring. However

wuaung is the main thing and success at one

level will take you onto the next to con:;.- ue

the battle against a faster and better

The graphics and sound are very

arcade-like and make this a very good con-
version. The gamepiay i^l? is also exciting
and despite the limited number of strokes
Times can develop into very absorbing con-
tests against a wily computer playet . lie last
level in particular plays at a similar; pace to
proper tab":?- 'enmsand takc^sorrue adjusting

yjj aftei the early slower levels . Aji appealing
game that just lacks a little m variety aftei :-.
while,

*■ Good display and great disembodied

hands,

*■ Easy to learn but with very tough later

levels.

► Two player option for added spice,

► Fust, exciting, quick t Amotion action.

*► Not much variety.

> Playing at the Far end is difficult.

GRAPHICS

SONIC SP

GRAB FACTOR r

STAYING POWER

A A HATING

RICOCHET

a la by , £2 99 cs se. j oystick or keys

Somebody else obviously played the same
ga;ne^ iinieas akidl>etLausi?tliisi!S n version
□ferje of my old favouiites, CiGssTire where
ball-bearings wortt fired at a puck oua curv-
ing playing area \j> force it towards Ore
opponent's goal 1 thought I'd seen the la st
thn g*mtc years age but urJdriuna:ely 1 liadn "i
even though the ball beannga have beers
replaced by laser fire

Tho playing area is rectangular in shape
with a Laser y;n hi oi™r end behinc a goal
mouth Two lines angle in from th<? sid*?$ -o
form ,i wide limnel towards Ihe *.[OAi w:Oi Die
puckstai starling it; the middle irf the rinard
By shoohng "he puckstar with the liiuiled
: it ;:jn be foreort m a
panicular direction Howevei Hit opponent,

computer or player, will he try ve i:

■ .

The winner is the firsj to reach a se

: goals bu: a :imo limit iftaflr on eacn goal

and I :his runs out buforo om i -■-

ep -iced in the centre of (ha

ard for the oomb^itants to h*ive Arcrher i r y

That is the bones cl ±e game but Ihe author

trie© "o embellish It. unsuccessfully by

iniroducing til m.ir-nftr ct weird opnonf and

par.imet

H»g prtkTO' h«fli« In

<y.\?i :t- c\ l! ^ii. l u i '-

The aimples! is the size af the goal bul
Ihia ;. :.i gives way to sellings of gravity,
colhsion mods energy bosinee. biiiial
gy and mpnsa The exact efect of each of
these has to be experimented with to dia
cover r>m it can do some preKy «et i c u
to iht* puckstar ,md the bu

You may find (ho puck becomes immov-
able and sits in one co rner of tire table o 1 1 : ^ :
* to obey most of the laws of science The
ts can do the srr-ingesc things curving
d round in U l urns, stopping dcio and re
backwards, swerving ."ike a baseball p=t
i ^n^^i01ne or sapping acros* the beard like
Concorde watha IdL wind.

►

0x ,lrfH**

«t y ««j AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 37

. j ■■

d*" **yft

^'MICRODISKS I — ™"

110 Artisoft 3"CF2
Microdisks

Suitable for all Amstrad
Disk Drives

O x *

"***>

♦Only

1 MEGABYTE
DISKS

Inc. VAT

Officially Appointed Distributor
For Atf 50f T 5XF2 Microdisk

ft ft

10 Amsof t
3"CF2-

1 MEGABYTE
Microdisks w

Suitable for your PCW 8256 _ K £&
Second Drive

Only

£59.95

******* .yi&

d*S*

O v ^d^

Inc. VAT

Officially Appointed Distributor

d** "'

FREE Z4HR Delivery in the UK. ,.Sa<^ ^o^3gf*

Please Send Cheque s/POs to:

[DeptAA] 11 Oundie Drive Nottingham hQ8 IBM

AH this paying around can be interest-
ing Tor -i while but the shallowness of the
jirii--- <ir.d simple display make .h:s a definite
non-starter The best biis of rho program ,-,**
the title music and screens They fintror ro

SECOND OPINION

■: i »ij ;. ■<? £? vv ; ,', d w n o h >pp f c* fdl ood

. . ■/ j us of such q™n 9$ Th i - V6 1 • i
going so gjvea»4j)y ta cherish in myse

•p

deceive- if the same unoutn of work
gone into ihe game things would ha ve been a
lot belter.

► Loti of silly parameters to play about
With.

► Nice title music.

E W

► Rotten gameplay even on the preset
parameters*

► Far too simple and dated game idea.
» Fanmeier&a*$too complicated and
Involved.

► Title screens and music flatter to
deceive.

GRAPHICS

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAVING POWER

A A HATING

23%
71%
20%
14%
18%

The curious name of trie game is derived
from its star, a schoolboy nicknamed the
seme . and one suspect fas; ft> a reference to
the programmer Tooba 2aids perhaps u's
what all his friends call him. The game in
which our rhyming hero appears is a muHi-
ssteei: one where he wqlks and flies around
conectmgrnonev and blasting merry bell out
iafkte of aliens.

The money is to replace a school; window
he broke This will cost him £50 as well as
determine his end of term grade a: school
With stakes ; ike that and the headmaster bett-
ing you his Ferrari you can't do U, you can
hardly resis: Swj 'dthftllenge. The gamaplay
itsel f is quite simple : Tubar uba jyg] haa to f u 1 ■ :
the money strewn a round the 20-odd screens
in £ 1 and 3 p coins . He can also make money , a
penny a time, by shootiiig the aliens thai at-
tack h:m.

The task is madn difficult by the limited
energy tha* TR has and fhfl feci ttlal many
thmgs can drain it Shooting steadily uses up
his supply as does touching the nasties
Same of these make him explode in a spec
taenia* shower cf dots and dram a chunk of
energy Ho has infinite live* with the game
^•nly ending whe-n the ep fl fgy runs Out, but

with every screen p-a^kfid with danger rats
happens all !oo fast.

SECOND OPINION

My fast impressions of this game «n?re ct
Elmos' unplayable speed. A fter dozens cf
hvesiai last gal the ha.ig of it ,it which pom:
iibecamea game Graphics

. -jund are? both preny good and while i;
war '! worry yoor gre v :m ::er. the brum
ce3tet$&need&regtitOM sndegain Ddn'f
they?

The wayto replenish energy is ta-
king up the money and more importantly the
food that is lymg about all over (he place
Most things only increase the supply by a
small amount but some objects will replenish
it entirely and are immensely valuable
When TR finally runs out of energy and gets
expelled he automatically walks to the mid-
dle of the screen, lies down and e»p!?>des like
a firework display - nasty way to go

The rooms a re s U mcely deserted with a

™«ry-po*fc*d room in

WtsjCMffy <|u»*tfof
and

wide vanety of features and dangers within
Some follow t&u Fatterns, others

home in, some zip about .ai ::igh speed, and
reaily sneaky dangers just don t move and
wait % jq sap your strength as you pass over
&e*& If you can t shoot them you 11 have tc
avoid them <mtl ftng '^ where the je- p>ack
comes m handy It allows TH (c fly abou*
quickly aoadi ccristcterably enhances his
Cha^f*!* nf survival

Many cf the nasties *hooi golden ball

es which folio* long curving nrajec-

J sxplcde TR if contacted Tfc s own

bullet (h.ibbte gum) are also affected by

g.avily and start to dip <ifu?r a few cenu-

njetres Sight pq scmjsr;

There ai e two basic ways of getting be-
tween screens all of which sue tide screens.
The easier is j uat by flyin g off :=-» edge of one
And into another, altliough sometimes these
exrts may not be ^mrnedititely obvious and
you'll have to ?o-irch them There are ajso
windows which when flown into transport TE
io another jccation, 3u: this costs him energy
and should be used spartngly .

The looks and sounds of ftie game are
good with lots of varied nasties ail fast mov-
ing, and am-active screen designs accom-
panied by some catchy music and approp n-
a?e sound effects It isn't very deroa:.

mentally but as pt:re arcade action it'^ pierty
Tough and entertaining

►■ Jlttractlve scieeai and moving
graphics,

► Extremely tough task to complete.

► Nice backing music.

► G(Hjd touches iiketelepoil windowi,
ballet trajectories and explosions.

» Not a lot to think about
*- In some sltnations energy
disappear horribly fast.

fiHAB FACTOR

STAYING POWER

A A RATING

^M, ?li .vrtTi*T- ^^fr7

RUN FOR GOLD

Hill MflcGihlian. £7 95cass F joystick wheys

If you ' v s had s? nough of w list • WTS C k in g .1 po rt
games that d mand mora Of yo-jr arm lhan
your mind (hen sit back and relax, because
here- wc have one that won't break your |oy-
alick and IhwonlytLmeit will rniikfjyon.'v.vi-.ii
is with The tension Of ,j close race finish. Tl
Challenges you to iace uver ihiee different
distances and to reach the Olympics in each
one.

The three events are the 4$Gm, 300m and
1500m. Each one demtmda its own tactics and
a long battle through three other major cham-
pionships before you can get to the
Olympics. Two runners arv. choson, one for
the 400 and one for She 600/1 S00 arid they will
have to race against 40 other individual com-
petitors . These nil have weird names many o?
which you might recognise; as being jumblsd
Up ver sioiis of real runners S Ebes:;o and S
Marc.

Great onimciKcm os
your wrictei than
wliTfe rwwer heads
fdi lh£ linhMng line .

SECOND OPINION

Th}$ it ,i very rxaiting tj.u ■■ tnpeta in.

You're up ii&dinst some really sop -class
Athletes in Tr&zt, Ch&ddni &od £&e x&pl but
you slWsys fa&l lh! d you train 'nurd enough
and rwc-? fhti right tactica you're in wl
chance of\i medal if raw a world rewind The
display is excvilvnt and (lis uniinattos

■';.- R via w,igqhng.-inyd.iy

Each i ace will have eight runners in it
including youi man and once you've dis-
covered what lane he's in the rare can begin
The display shows a picture about three
lanes w:de wilh ihe runner in the centre and
'.tie ti lack fiti etching away in front of him, or a
bend curving out of view. By his side (8C0and
1500] or ahead ;m;l behind him on Iheir
blocks '1,400) are ctliei runners- The Starter
will give '.he on you: marks.. .get set... go'
signals with a random Interval between eafc :_
yv, being 3 Ne~o predict the start an;l
get ,i flyer

If the runner does false star I he can'" af-
ford to dc it again orhe 11 be dragualified . Ho
can also be disqualified for running off die
edges of the track or for going out of &iB lane
in the 400m and before die break m the 8Cvm
.However it is often worth trying to anticipate
the start in the srrjalter meetings whim trying *
for a good r.mo as you gc: another chance in
the championships you don !

fhei e ai en': too many things to con~rol
whjie running but "here are two Leye s rr
play, one cf w'"ir- i? veiy tough On l«vej oi.e
?he runner will keep in !ane even a: ound The
bends and you control his position in the Line
and his ciffcr: This is cetErmined by 1WC
gauges or. the screen, energy and speed
■he faster he goes Has njore energy he uses.
Careful use of energy is needed so That you
will last the race but still be able? to mush
strongly and tea: the faSfr-Eekhing
competition,

On level two the left/rtght innvemnnt of
the runner has to be 'continually coii'.i ohed by
the player and this makes cornering much

The runner an hit
blocks

SpMdflcrege

Entftty gaupe

•oughe r indeed. On both levels the othe r run-
ners can get it: your way though and The mn
ner may ever stumble and fall, losing valu-
able tirr.e_ You can check or. Where the oppo-
sition are m relation to ycu with a side view
which xl:-o pauses the game.

r . ~ r race is run in real time so reaching
the Olympics in all three events may take
some while. Trying to break world records
may take even longer The runners ran b&
saved and the tnbre races thpy have under
tfiRiir belts brfnrr* a championship the faster
they will be. Utdciiuraieiy the tatne is also
true o: the ether competitors.

The animation of the rjnnersisexceUssjTi
although when there are several on sei
the action may noticeably slew down and
when rennets overlap some nasty white
bloba ciin be* crestud. There are one or two
musical ditties' within the game and a lot of
footsteps a* you pound the track, The races
demand plenty of practice and concentration
but yo'n' rpwrsid could be a gold medal a' the

Olympics

► Excellent animation on runners,

► Three dfcffexeftt events re quiring
different tactics.

► Tough to win and even tgngher to
break records.

► Good opponents make for exciting
races and close finishes ■

► Nice touch when the runner falls over.

► Screen slows down with several
runners In view.

> One mistake can ruin a whole race
(like the real thing?)

GRAPHICS
SONICS

GRAB FACT Oft
STATING POWER |
A A RATING

40 MARCH 1985 AMSTRAD ACTION •■.■„..,, n , .- lawwteAcaas

"The only fully

professional

word
processor

on the
Amstrad"

Amstrad Action, October 1985

The new Pocket WordStar is so
professional Amstrad Action helped
us to write this advertisement — with
their appreciation of the latest word
processor product from the WordStar
range — the most popular word
processing packages in the world.

Read some of the other things they said:

"ftxkel WordStar is for people who regularly
have to sit long hours at a Keyboard ..."

The designers have taken great cam to make
things as easy as possible. The manual is
superb, clearly ttnitten and well cross-
referenced"

"Any reformatting required can take place
instantly. This one fact alone is enough to
ensure that Amstrad Action's writing team is
now transferring to WordStar".

TAKE YOUR CUE FROM

AMSTRAD ACTION

AND PICK POCKET WORDSTAR

Obtainable from vour local Dealer. For further information
please contact MicroPro on 01-879 1122 (Est, 210),
Major Distributor: Cumarta Ltd. 0483 503121

ONLY

£119

MicroPro,

MkroFVa International Lid, Haygarth House,

2*31 High Street, WimMedwi ViiJwfe, London SW19 SBV

INC VAT

Operating System:
CP/M 2.0 or higher

CPl' Memory: 56K of SAM is required

Packet WordStar can operate with one
disk drive cuittaimniC at least L20K.

KOKOTONI WILF

E h te, C 8 . 35 ass, £ 13 95 4 isk . jo yst i ck on I y

This is The tost release ft cm Elite since FS's
Rawj^rower»Kmonths«go out that lean spell
s sjsl to acme I 1 1 \w,h Commando

ar.o jScj'j'e; Gaasm following hot witah ■
Ti :■■ g . fce iiJ'-i *=

impart, but this exploration game wi

hnd plenty G! takers* rite]

and difficui r . action

The WiH ..■: an ancient here

bcai i • i ■.-:: wings on hts back He's in

search of the |

that have ■■ i . . tei h six tina

■ : i Ee begins &. 'ho year one million BC
and has m flap his way through to 200'

■i Ltsofamuletontheway iding

the man? dangei -■ set igarost him

■ time
SSOr&s w it. .-.j. I: .- iii • .ivmg characwriirtic
scenery and Inhabitants of '.he ei= la which .'
One thing fha*appeais tn eve. v eons a
atiigulb :)bv i i lent bit

teiuijod to evolve ir. one million years into

snyi . n i white lim

WUFhfijrtmeon '-:i
hcrnrls oj tie flop;
rhrcuKjh ftlitory

1 hers are plenty of other hazards apart
frarn the g.:. :■ w "h pterodacty s
dinosaurs, *oldiHr.i monks, spaceships, id]
let plants helicopters missile laucchersand
the ocd shark. They ail pop up on heme tei -
ritory and move m regular patterns, shuttling
:..icicwn ■;■ "; . ■■ nd > i nta y wait-
ing foi Wing I Will to bhmdei into ih«m
■ •aaresomemoeoesigris and reasonable
4r.irr:,ition and although the screens tend to
be ' chunky they are mostly c
attractive,

SECOND OPINION

Not impressed by this Sam to

.....■■■■.-.■? tx:t na thing 1 anywhere new r
special Gameplay is simple and '.'■■
arsn 't any real puzxitxt as suck to sabre. A
pleasau I j&UKf. jbu , f col xeatty de#p enough
'hese ddyn,

being obvious ur;u nothing tc think about

y ng around picking up objects won': be

■/body's cup of tea but the screens can

gel ^ujX- tough | -.n icularly wish Wilf suffer-

ty symptoms every time you

To i.j' i vsen lime xenon Wilf has to
..1 the piece, 1 -: at amula • n an

addttionaj one that appears attar the others
-md Iranspons him Id the new sone. Once
i jjo romem beret)
.. sotupleted ho ihai once erai
won t hold much interest, particularly ssmce
1 here's no score except cf the number of
pieces Collected

Tliemciiiax'iioua -. firings flapping

-■•in at
cheer the cur However the in . )c;m

raced by the game is that it 8 showing its age

ye arcade adven-
,,iop and
a 1 in the
Bams a .tip

■ ronanng the screen! [s mostly imai
to flap control and good timing

most connect] ona between screens

*■ About 60 screens making up six time
zones.

► Some nice graphics with plenty of
colour.

► Section* can be quite tough.

i» Gamoplay is dated

* Little in the way of sound.

> Once a zone is explored it loses its

challenge-

GRAPHICS

SONiCS

GRAB FACTOR

STAYING POWER =

A A RATING

PLAY YOUR CARDS
RIGHT

Britannia Software. £7.95 c&ss. Keys only

The com une takes exactly the

same format as l v shew but with :':.<.• iwin
[laving :o wdtdiBrucse'smugor
be told it 'a nice to see you The games can be
d against .he computer or another
p-ayei bu: a .-jus^an opponent wiU be more
mterestirig-

To start ■ ntple question us j ■ .

the players , usuali y rega rd i r.<j i ! .e if itinsete oi
humourous escapades of 100 married
couples sin-i:e men. vicars etc. The p.
then tiaa to guess how manv of he hundred
gave a pfirr.cd.3r dnswer after which player
two says whethei he thinks the r^mber is
higher c: at guess The one who

gets nearest ge ts first crack a t sti i ge two .

This is a row of five playing curds which

have 'c be lumed over by predicting

i ie nexi card v. rther or tower

ihan its predecessor- If you get to the end of

The now the aarrso a won. Failure will let the

: player 1 - . ■ and the crues-.ioris and

SECOND OPINION

Hrvcie $ software debut is unlikely to win the
r&taxgs battle f oi Biiitanid- itsdint. If you
must do licensing deals then si i&ist liocnce
some'fiing wonh licensing.

answers sessions go on umil one player has
Vf^ntwogames-

Hc new meves to the Drudsiage where on
TV ycu go for a prize. Here you ius" go for a
we I e YOu s:«iri with iiOO poinTs and 1 1
cirdfl arranged ui rows of one hree

and four from The tcp down The fua! Of (he
tout Cdidt: is lurncd over az\<i you be: pa.nis
on the rum cl the nexi eatd, d<siibling (hom i:
you correcli'' .iglier cv

lowe j and hem if yta : nor '* Tr.is cont-

inues up the row.
car 1 mean e nd the game on the lii : card

Tlie graphics and sound are unmemor-
ahle, the card piedi^umi lehesuieieiy on ihe
taw of averages mnc although the quet:xOua
may i edd ami .ns Lhe effect

when you haven t got nn aunienop of TV veg-
i i.ij'jc-sscrearnuig "higher, higher!" In some
questions the fi-nieturc is s.JCh that it's impo-
ssible to knew whether you're supposed to
be guessi ng how many people sdid yes. no or
twice on Sundays

Mighe* , Higher, lower,

w s

* Brucic id confined to the title screen.
► Fans of the show may enjoy it.

► The whole thing relies on guesswork
and the law of averages - no skill.

► The meaning of the questions is
sometimes unclea* .

*- There are no prizes, which is the whole
point of game shows (fo* the public
anyway).

GRAPHICS*

[ SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STATING POWER

A A RATING

%
%
1%
26%

rrm

42 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION*L«««dwi*st:

SHEKHANA COMPUTER SERVICES

present the Latest officially licensed game from...

SHEKHANA COMPUTER SERVICES
present the following special offers to Amstrad
Action readers...

Kike

Eliu'f Ji»k)
Kom h Jack
Marspoci
FBi-iino'i B.™.ns;
Spi til rer 40

Commando

BMcGui&uT., Boxing

WirtlcrSpwriv

Boulder Da--h

F.gb.L-r Pilot

Tornado Low I .evd .di^Ss >

Ma.tchpot.it

The Hohhir

SwoWs World

3DV»ktfChs.ss

RaiTihft

I "Ht«t'ihvKing*

StuiThi-mBclLL-

Skvftra

SfKvcty

Alien S

Bead. Head 1 1

Am hem

Goooict

I tnptjisiblc MittiM)

Winter Gam«

Sup<r Btnvl

Single 3* "do*

3D Stir Strike

■Mawcrfltc

Yu At Kraft Fu

Mini Office

Strabh Ic

Hnire I xc

*'*-95

.z.y?

17.95

35.95

8.95

6.7.5

9*95

?.50

S.95

6.75

^^^^

993

7*5°

9-y5

- . -

Lords of Midnight

9-^7

7.5a

Screen ■ did.

*vi

6.U5

MrniOftJt

"3-95

ii^5

.Mint Office 11 dwfc

993

7-50

jfciet Pilot i]

»4-95

1 1.95

Koi-iii.lin Space (d

7-¥^

$4)5

YabhirijbtisDiHi

12-95

10,95

Tht> Sold a. Million

9-95

7.50

tftKfBfttk

S.y*

«-?«

Wji? uf Uw Exploding FLsl

•5 55

ihtTijscr

S.gs

8-93

Dcacn Kn*

■_-j-

7.50

Spyv Spy (disk.

2-95

6.(j5

Spy v Spy

9 Y5

7-JO

Critical M»<>

9-95

7^30

Saboteur

y-9*

Turbo Esprit

9-95

7.50

Gram! Pros Rallv s

995

'?.«

I « dj flf M 1 .ti. iiih t I d is3t ':

99S

7.50

StarQktafce*

9-95

7.50

Sword* and Sowi }

+95

Ajomuih (hod aligjiit .eit . -

4-9\

550

ip Grand Printdftk)

24.i>t

i2,«>

RiV* and TK"r. ■

£-93

Theatre Euro?*

5-yS

4 -99

Boiled LT

9-95

7 *o

3D Boxing .dido

9-9i

7-y<

fctutcnalc

- sj

^■■Hl

r+.«

is-95

Hir t h-hiKtr"M <JuiJlt: ■ disk

1 7 50

iiorkl d

Ck-iKilLnu di^k'

i!.9S

10.95

laikcr drF-fc

8-95

1'laArtfalT di^k

«*J

Tornado Low Level

M-9S

13-95

Highway [t.ihZfunltr

995

7. v>

\ : c's. Faldo's Golf

9-93

7-93

Glass

9-93

7-J9

Slap Shot

>■»■«

12.95

jlDSumr. Rider

9.^5

7-5*

Knight Lore

s.93

6,75

S.C £ Arrow*

9.93

675

Rai J over Mitttnw : dsik '

S^5

*75

IK' .inn in Paradrv

S-93

6.93

gD Grand Pns

n.s"

M.9S

Tink BuKTcr^

7 JO

Keller Gonter

995

tDB._ii.inK

8.95

7.5O

Forbidden Planet

IJ.95

lt.95

D.ary of Adrian Mrfe

B.9S

7-50

jT> Cyrus llCbcs* ili-k

l fH

7 9S

iTic Kiti-tH*. Studio Pen

9-9J

795

BiidfifPlayvr 3

f.195

II.95

QuiL-kdioi 11 i.'vMiCk

H-93

>• Ji)

jD CjTto U Qictt

■4 «

19W

ig.95

L9-'JS

'9B5

*^-

5 95

8.95

6,93

99S

K-5Q

9-95

««s

«,95

- : :

995

7-50

9.95

_ 5a

>3 95

H.95

995

7-<D

9-95

7-40

7-95

6.JC

fi.95

S.75

9-95

7-JO

7r93

>95

9-99

-.so

13 95

11.95

'9 95

"95

1*95

IC.lfJ

15.95

K.99

9-95

7-95

Ki?f MAU. OH IH-:R pteoM «Md Lfiij P.O. Lo:
S.C,S.(Dc P t-VAl

PO twx 394
London Si. (>JL
Te kphnrMR o 1-^00-315^
P&p5inciti({cd ttillK r-itiiMptradd^i per

0,-hcnrtMiKiK.
S-A.E. forlm

If yOii >hH.>uld like L*j psirk up ><vjrdjsciMJn( irhfruarif

;iIl-j.c bnnE y«nr oop? ( h f t hi-; aJwrt to:

liofnpuccDtrc.l nit <;
121 TmletiriaiiiC.i.url Kn.nl
London Wi
inearGoodgjf St luo-
Oj^tciiwdaysauirct i17.5c1.fTi- l$OOpm

Ac«SS nriii ViM catd h-.il hfti rSTlft-

01-631-4627

Credit cird k-fdifm detpa khed iamt A*y subitrct ti>
.njitabil'.'.

DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPER.

Ocean. E8.95t3Ss, joystick rniJy

By now many of you may be sick of the sigh : of
sporting game* needing a good waggle, but
this foil owup to DT&Deicathtonhas eightnew
events (bat you may not be able to resist
playing, These certainly aren't Daley's
Olympic specialities but an athlete like htm
Oantake Onany challenge even ski jumping
The game ioads in ;wo par's with four
events in each . The first day's events are pis-
te; shooting, cycling, spring board drv
and giant slalom, Having sweated over them
you can move on :o rowing, penalties, ski
jump und tug o'wax so round off the muscle
mauling The iwu days are played as indiv-
idual games and you don' i need 10 complete
■ one to pliiy day two

3 ■ on

Daisy prtpw« to
launch dlmiilf info *•
pool

rre rtrsT event \s pisio! shooting and.
This is the only one which requires no wag
gling - just a good eye and fast reactions
Daley appears ,r the bottom ol the sci

six revolving targets in front of him One
of these will fhek into view - cross has to be
r.omed in on it find a bullet fired t- 1
:argel disappears again There

bullets to be fired and three chances to attain
The qua -.; iij score Failure will lose one of
Daley a three lives, :o:h&aocciii4jMiiiuieniof
a detightfu

Alter :his skill-testing event there's a
fhtfbrwaxd waggle at cycling Yoi: only
got one chanoo to cycle down the course
within a ume limit while the animated charac-
ter on screen whizzes ftis legs around like a
:hing. Test number three go's you back
to good tuning will: a spring board dive. Here
yon hav ; ie bounces on "he board to gam

height and ihen waggle furiously to make as
man-, before trying to make a

graceful- 'hewaier Threediv^

: e added

together to try to beat a qualifying score

The diving is qurte a tough event <o mas-
ter and is followed by another difuoul! Task
the giant slalom Here you have to zig-zag
down a course as it scrolls up tho screen. The
skier is started off and speeded up by a bout
of waggling and ihen steered left and right
through ihe slalom gates The course has to
be completed inside a time limn and there
■ire only two chances to do is Sharp turns .inri
ig flags will slow the skier down while
missing a gate or sknng oft the edge of The
course disqualifies him

Day two opens in vigorous style with a

get 'Jie -.
•
puste game has been noli
sence on die Amstiad L ui any one . . o&ag , r L .
a mental chaiienge -ha- doesn - limjlve
a^eada adventuring jusi . - gjcandanaLysis
be teoi e ihsn happy.
The rules ol the g
■i with games iiv- nd Chess

• and strategies is

gams takes place on a &x6 grid onto which
countera can be pushed by ihe two players
The counteia canbe pushed onfrom the tight
hand or bottom edges of The grid, and wh< in
:hoy nrc "tits row or column they're pushed
■ i novas aJcng one square 1 .

The aim is le get four counters in a line
horizontally, vertically or diagonally before
your opponent. Ho can bathe computer on
one of seven difficulty levels or a human
opponent n gainst whom several outran*
:ypesof game can be played The computer
opponent plays a good game on all seven
pta,} i Ftgalongtimetomoyi on5
7 but playing fast and well on level four in
particular,

The player, can take as longashe likes to
move against the computer and against such
.i log

iftaareeasyb

i start to get very

.*«d Irs pr.ie-irai.y impossible lo fill ihe

le board with counters without some-
body winning but even if you should manage

y coriTiTiiJies be ca use counters ' ust disap-
pear off in*? top and left of (he grid when

bed off.

CnHtan

HBLJ

lm\ ito»«

iodk !W0 rngv« S

44 MARCH 1966 AMSTRAD ACTION-

rowing contest against me computer. The
two competitors paadio hori7<ont;il!y across
the screen with the player having two tasks.

first is to bea:a qualifying nme while the
second is to beat she computer rower for a
bonus scare

orr the watRr and onto the football Seld
now for some spot kicks. The computer de-
fends a goal on the right of the screen with a
goalkeeper while a player en 'he left has tc
Eiep up and try tc whack five balls past it The
strength bf Ehekirfc is buiHup by waggling gs

i runs in and then the d
heightofthe bail by the tuning of the pressing
of ihtf fir e button and how iong it's held down
for There's a qualifying score with points
being awarded for each kick

Eight different events.
Excellent graphics and animation.
Good range of tune*,
Both skill and powei axe ne eded .
Events are challenging and get
laugher.

Guaranteed to test your joystick to the
limit.

Another in the long Line of
sports/waggling games.

Ski jumping isn": your everyday sport-
ing even bit: here 'isere are three chance to
achieve .1 qualifying distance The screen

The :

*.ht? g • .ikes

: j •; that

wil a io in m ■

v.'.iy., 'l'i

.ii w.i.T- he i' iy. 1-. Mn have sp<
hi:-.. - spt 1 ■ think Speed think

aeis a time limit oil sac) h vidusl m

shows three view*: a close-up of (he sk;er a
si de view of the whole slope and a top vie w of

it as well, As the skier starts his descent wag-
gling builds up his power ar.d a timely press
ol the Gre button launches him ofl the bottom
pftheslope He now flies through the with
the greatest of ease until the ground ogmes
rushing towards htm. A safe landing can be
achieved by timing a press on the me button
&gairj but otherwise you' hit hard and with
legs and arms Tailing roll into a large
eriowbail

The last challenge is ibetugoVa t where
eight opponents awai. you in 4 waggle to 'he
Dnlsh On the ftrs) run I I - i\ e

to take on ihe easiest man but ir. later i ounds
the heavier, stronger inen liave to be faced.
After completing four events on either day
you start Ihem again bul with the qualifying

scores end times made harder

The graphics ar:d ami ;ia lion are slick
smooth end a white the muaica

compainmeni la varied and tuneful. Bacte

event has b&en well thought out and deve 1 .-
opec to make them playably addictive bul

tough f oo. A most enjoyable bash with plenty
of variety in events and skills.

GRAPHICS

B2%
W%

15%

:•: :: :•: >t-;-^«»8c8W

SOWS

■.■.'.-.-.-.■.-.-.-.*.*>jg«BtiS

: : >>:®f8WWBBS8a

GRAB FACTO F

wmm

STAYING PGWf 1

■ygmffi

AA RATING

-:-:o:o:-:v-?;sooHsam

.■•■:-:-:-:-:::>::*o^fflW

M.Li^,»t»x*:tiei*]«i i[*^.i-iiii-JHf

tick and style (hot will not only bring

.-cess In trie gome but keep i ;
-'->ment if i one piece for os long as

ile, Everyone ho* their own personal
rite stick and method buHier? are a

nts if you've been having problems,
The type of joystick ii the most
*tant thing and there are several
•tant criteria,

le length: Jong sticks hove to travel over
at distance pnd the only effective way
ggling is to hold the stick at Hie base

sen thumb end index, finger. Short slicks
much better os you can get Quicker
ment and o better grip on them.
'UtloFBineed to be easily ape r air
iddle of waggling bul not accidentally

•-< big positive feel buttons are
(not 'riggers or (op fire buttons},

L'i: these ate ihe switches inside

a very positive click when used (Qufckshot,
JY2j can't be operated all (hat fast, but
micros bitches or leaf ^witches (Kemps ton,
TAC 2, Wlco and rnciny others! con operate
myth farter, depending on the r«t of the
construction of tours
Construction; you can't e*pcct a relatively
cheap joystick like a standard Atari •
Quickshat 1 to take much of a hammering,
but the more expensive varieties ought to be
built to lost. Trie base isalsormportani-you
can't expect base suckers to hold a stick
down so the- most successful types seem to be
o base that con be easily held down with
your non-waggling hand either on the table
or your (op.

My personal favourites are the
Kempifon Competition Pro/formula One
and the SuiKom Tot 2 but you'll probot "
ha no lo shop around to find the r i ci 1 1 r \t
our style and n

!■ jhforfei ond bat?;

a linn for the whole gsj
iy or ' s runs ou - they lose the ; TAme
s are 4l?o tntortal and solve ga
he con:pu:cr

•.in' i ng yew moves in a gat yen

probli ■

annoying in the extreme since n doesn't
ilways let you r ay the best move
pule..

g are mote I n all si in be

•

■
There aie 1013 of oilier opuons a v* i L
On the mam menu you can change the court

r. ive a green screen se"
put the sound on or off and tend or save the
game Both main displays dru .i:'r«iciivoiy
presumed but lhe »ound is a single beep
winch isbestturr.fliioff

The upU ana within the: g j"
interesting and allow you io indulge in iome
■ tica There
itcatora. the foimei of v in be

■i i : !■■ and the lajSer uaed in long games

■ a you've goi time to r^r
check up on whai the aornp

n n fuTtcrton where t i will

sugg ■ • ■ ■-■ fn r yon i and onr? w i

youcanfoicethe computei k

jpnonistheonew
pan take the game bac^ ■ imaif

Tory easy to pick up.

Lots of logical an d analytical thought
required.

Plenty of options to maintain Interest,

Speed and blitz games add a new
dimension to the action.

Two player games can be quite a haitie
Of wits.

Pathetic sound.

No scoring system except in the
annoying tutorial mode.

i i'i .;■ . • ■■ looks like
Wh an thi ■ . w . .■!) o t 1 rj.=?t i

all'themo^ l^-ahovvriaridaquii

.i: made of when? you we : nt wtond'or <
You can even use the solve option t- i
I

OOlLd senou

f L'* AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1933 45

it!

LjPi'

STRANGELOOP

The massive, d esolote factory that services
ttie EARTH orbits silently in the vast DARK
WASTES of space.

STRANGE THJN6S have been observed
from EARTH, very strange indeed as there are
NO HUMANS on the factory, ft is maintained
and controlled by a clever series of ROBOTS,
programmed only to serve.

How could the ROBOTS possibly be
SABOTAGING happenings on EARTH unless

they are somehow being REPROGRAMMED7 Intrepid investigation is the only
way to find out exactly what is going on,. .and it must be YOU!

250 rooms of EXPLORATION, PUZZLES to resolve and CURIOUS ROBOTS to meet.
GRAPHICALLY STUNNING, full of ACTION and AMUSING encounters, this is arcade
adventuring at its absolute peak.

This what they were saying about STRANGELOOP before they even saw this version

'Stmngetocp is unique, graphically tmpmssm vast and devious; in shaft, britl... ' Personal Computing Wee*

'...you've got to use your from as w&tia$yourioy$W...tyQngekXH)gwptyGsaMsupefa

'This ts a very big and superior arcade oaventure...an elegantly designed gome' Your Commodore.

£r==3

' one 'Commodore user

-#V # # +.

Remember SORCERY ; this year's most ACCLAIMED title for the AMSTRAD? Well virgin GAMES'
unrivalled reputation for AMSTSAD software is upheld again with the Gang of Five's latest MASTERPIECE.

i well preserved yamc wsih plenty of
options nnd of course endless variation in the
gam*. yed Ita only flaw

• :■■•■ i ■■■■•.•■■ -m jot the •
but many hat,| . hoi ■. ■ n* sliding

counters even if the talty has to hp kept on
pat)'"

GRAPHICS C

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

'STAVING POWER

A A RATING

Only one oihe? reruns simulation has been
tried on Arnold and thai was very dire, leav-
ing a gap m -he mark*: for j decern attempt a;
the spcri- That space has new been filled by
this highly demanding but i awarding game
which really does give you a rasre of the dif-
ficulty and atmosphere of rhe real thing

Tr=e whole of -he tennis court to shewn on
the screen at once with a ¥*ew from above
and behind one end of it This gives y
camera angle view cf the proceedings with
the umpire, ball boys, crowd and score-
boar u dii in sigh I . The court na i i ows at the top
because of the per apect ?ve and ihts ateo has a
najorefrcC' on the play, making "he top ■
lot harder So p-,sy at and judge the ball's

One or two pla y or games can be playec.

-5 d rubbing by the

compote: iazy can 3i rand watch V'al»

fc inle it out; The game can

also be p . thiee levels: quarter final

semi-" il These are of increasing

diffir ■.■mputer tfven the

rough *

Games are played over fi ve sets andfc&-
low all of the rules of tennis including tie-
breaks and end changes The breaks be

-games drevery short but when you ate
serving you can leave the player bouncing
the ball for as long as you like :! you need a
breather (wipe the sweat off your brow
change shii 7s or rackets etc}

Control of the player may at first seen
limited since you can only move htm around
and pi ess ire to swing the i acker However

You «o*not be wniotfj
man, 1 toiwot be
■01*14 rhe t*Xs

ikiU involved is :r: the positioning o
player jnd the spewed of the racket swing
Once (his Fine art has hf*n ipjsrnt a wide
age of shots can be played although J
haves t managed to execute ,-t lob or rj

yet As well as "he tuning of shots a tact
ical sense is needed, as in the real game.
Your shote shouki beplayed to keep ihe other
player ..-. the run and playing defensively
rather than let him dom:n«" ■ ■
outright winning strokes tbatyoucan t reach.

iftia often didn't work well and 'hat m
control over the r-icker using die fire button
waetar more reliable, Now you've gotali that
infortrtilion arid a few practice games under
your bell try taking on The- computer and aee
justhow good you've go: to got.

Even on the easiest quia r ter final level ^ho
computer is tough but you should spgn.be
able lo take the odd game off him and in time
perhaps even a set, To do so there are two
mam tactics to perfect the s^rve/veney
game where you charge into the net or
baseline tactics where $du wee* down the
upponeni with long rallies Wlthehhe* tactic
the important thing fo remember is that while
moving fot ward 6a the serve o* she* as you
exsra speed is put on the ball, thus

ig you better chances of beating your
opponent.

• challenge of playing the con ,
is too much rhen a human opponent should
providemorebakncfidcppcairionand close
exciting games ate much mote likely to re-
su It On : be whole it a a good simulation, it's a

■ be computer opponent, doenn": have a
slightly easier level It does, though, pr< '
a tasting challenge. I don i think anyone will
e^erbearltheoamputer qn Baa: level it's just
too fast

NEWS

SECOND OPINION
jVBryati J only

L-. ::.t I ,-..:;.-■.. , I afBYetihi

year computet <*£%

McEnrc-. •■■>■-;. a, but I'mal

-. .':.■ v/ati ■; ■ •■'•

*■ Very tough compute? opponent.

► Excellent two player action-

► Very realistic and ikilful sLmulation-

► Nice touch when th« ball boys pick up
bails hit into the net .

■

*■ Solitary players will spend ■ very long
time trying to master the garae>
► If you aren't a tennis fan forgot it.

While yaa are rushing around she
afser the- bail the computer will automatically
:h from forehand to backhand but Llonnd

GRAPHICS

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAYING POWER

A A HATING

nwior^eyiMdBgtiji™ AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH

WINTER SPORTS

Electric U reams, £3 SStaSS, joystick or keys

c cmly 3 irepni^r of lime before the spores
sTTmilatjCTij mar:id spiead from the summer
athletics action 10 The vce and snow f t vlics of
winter Tliere are eigh lo lake pat I ui

ancttey toad in fiv** difteiwjtr. sections from
the tape.

The firs: three -,-. : r. .« re slalom gianl
rohi 'i-'i fbEow a

sjmUBTfomrt.it to sn Ihe skiing The dis-

play is sp ifintotw elefidispiayshow

in -i -'--:■ forwa ttew and fee rigN "ho

-.'itr.v Eeitr.v [h-i are I ' "tral and
speed indicators and .. it the time and
number oj d and failed.

The three events are very sitr i
slalom vol have tc ski around gates (marker
Bags) jr. the downhs I yon have to ski be-
tween gates m: j i !■ . giant sMfQEi ihe two
are combined you start by skiing Trough
ga-.tts and then switch to slalom

You have control «vsr the leti.
movement of she skiei ar.c 5Vet trie SpfWirJ

o the slope The left/ngn- control can
be changed gradually so dial a lot of

sought is jeq iiiied and (ho speed has to
be watched cuTofiil ly as -he skier accelerates
Tip-idly when facing straight downhill "This
mra na excel lent control \ai 1 to avoid

mi&ginggare?

whole juik There is iw ptayer ophon ot
you can take oh the computet both jbttirs
being plnynd ovwr foui pes -L of
minutes.

The ski jumping is a more demai i
event requiring skill and faster re. rtions
Tho Semen i$ again Spill into !wc Willi the le-'t

display a view down rhe slope and the right
lay aside view ofthestoer Hehasi© first

Anolfecr kmely day en
*cpiitr

Oni - '' smvuMjd ihe skier has '

ho run hut he can cuii'irue io seo w-at the
rest of the com se ia like I f thr run is suceee-

jompleted and die lima is good enough
it can be recorded in a high score ia>
earned forward oven when Icactng other
events

The action ;s slow lor ait three events but
demands plemy of cOTtoenTEismn to com-
plete, Unfortunately thts hflcom.es repetitive
after iust a few plays and the frustration
onisnd by crawling down the s.ope on y b ■
miss a late gale by a couple of pixels is tx-
treme The main problem is :hd r there is
sense ofurgeneyoi excitement conjured up
by (he slow acljon, single graphics and

■ :i-i.c:.y sou i -■ "'■ '■"■

tockey comes next and also suf
fersfrqm the action being toosibw The pi-ch
is shown tn pet epeciive and sot oils horit
ally as play moves around, I: lb vei y similar to
Anirog'o5JtfjL>Sftofbu1 it a much slower and at
the top of trie acreon is an overview -■. the

SECOND OPINION

■' ■■ ■ frsphjcs&bdSQizrsdQn this king
7 v*i ," ■ - ■ .- re he frt so 5pr ztrumm \

bo msk? me think the wrong version had
som&h&w loaded on the Arr.s7r.T~i. The
■ repia y did net compensate ■'■ r ffta
Ct&fici&icies (n ppese/KafKfn, aW The Rweiite,
swift tfie exce-priDn ctfthebobsfod. were
v&ty dull indeed. Add tot 1 •tedious
iud':ij:j~:: system aad '.';■; vsgoi - :--.--r
disappowtiitij pi ogram

be guided ziraighl down the slope
pimped of the end . tiile m the *dy

mon can be altered to gan m rxmiwndis-
tsinca i>:.i trying to stay npnght (in liinfiing
The graphics and sound arerttUtimnftpJ in j
but the qameplav Is mot e demanding

Speed skating is back to a 3 :ash-

toned waggle or key hammering iiicng
■■•ui;;ks fiom 500 to 10.000 m«:res The spli!

tnatedandtse
ability tc h.iv^fv;,--- ■■■ nrrodti<

■ ent but the gam rather baf

flmg. Finding the right waggling lechnique is
difficul. o\x <t seems to £>e a matter of timing
ra'Jtet than as ;-■:,-■ The

inngcr races r .n ■

problem
up a i eaUy buj, lead - you can only evei get a
few meires ahead.

The bohsicd is the mtis< iti'eresling
event, wiih yel another spii! screen showing
the view from aflove and hehmri the tr>h |r
has to be guided down a course t,ik:ng cor
nors wiihyoticontrolhng speed and \ellfi :gh*
movement. The graphics are again belter for
this event with enough speed ,ir ; n di ffici dry ro
make i r • tough challenge

The last event is the bia if..--:-:: combining
sk, .ng and shooting .1- -.bonoUG

waggling affair across some very pielur-
eegue backgrounds livery :<?* ect^ohs

a laroets liave lo be shot within a time

^^- ^^-

ONE MAN AND HIS DROID

Miisturtfiinic £1 ,99eas6, joystick or hryt

One of the bast named gair.ea ef the y^ar ■
OK, there's not much of it gone ■ with ;>ne of
the weird«at scenarios to 90 with it h's suet on
an dlstit planet where accompamed by your
■I drord, you have lo icund up Hamb-
oids a form of alien aheep The droid does
all the work of course You just have to guide
htm around

The drc . hw task underneath a

a cavern in which are hundreds of free

Ramboids He hasro work his way up through

them to get to an a*]' which' will lead mio.
another -avc— The free ramboids ate ar- ;
j aiined 1:1 horizontal lines with gaps random-
ly placed The lines move in different direc-
tions so that ihe drotd has :o weave his way
thro!: top

The probiem is Q :akes too long

..nes stop moving sideways and move
down taking the diotd to ihe hoitom of the
cavern. He also ends up back at the bottom if
he strays over to the edges of the ca%'em
where a moving bejt wil J iot^p. him down.
Qnce fift's inm :hi> droid has to head I

48 AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH ]98G-.,.- ,. , ,

, . r : : i ; .1 rfbTO fern ag back la the tts k Again it

suffers from tbe-skungbeing too stow to
anyexdteoiei

The matt gripes with i-: game r

lack of sp i .:,iii:.Mv'

sound, Although you i e ge run ; vents

for 'he money sad son;

ing it ffti ;. leaves me om seed

Uiing.

w s

*■ Eight events.

► Some' difficult games to complete.

W S

►* Most games are too slow far the
gamepUy to be interesting.
►- The sound effects axe very basic.
P- The loading system isn't much fun.
*■ Too much attention seems to have
been paid to pretty backgrounds and not
enough to the gatneplay.

GRAPHICS

I SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAVING POWER

ZANIA

M f rdd in Screens M i c rocomputer , £ 1 4 .35 disk
only, joystick or keys

Disk wily games are suli in iheit in
A-nold tu: agreed y si is Leai thai it

:s very much the fu&tre for -fXlSi

programs. This arcade -set on a

s deiaile [round where

-.urch'-rj: ■ acover^

lost chesicf gold

Despite Pen ., n ana ha land

which ht? wa ' and la i eahauc illy and

atiractivBJy pjeaewed ""■" , - many

crfourrol and well di awn featin inbe

■ of, behind _.i ovai I, i
most impressrve thing is the us< 'it perspec-
tive The pe has tea! depth so that

n Percy walfcs into it he . and

him to then* -game.

This next stage is the ten*;
the -icrjon and after a .jets

ty drfficii.t. Here . . to shepherd

to into a tcteporrcr tn the right order
There are seven of the
cuiatu leas*

foul have to be dumped in the ter in

the ngni OJ <i er Gel li ng the in t\-
hard pan

SECOND OPINION

J really ijkad rfte &d i gt o w/id organ sound.
i nd foei n d tfc e gmphfes & ttracb ve t

i ;, spj bs rtieirsimpii a rv /;: e gaoiepia y '

-v: ir.-.jve And not fus! because it s
- The n-cvi-.^ ■ >sasJe*sve*y

■ rou{/tKKittfi9gsiTie ffyoa'r&oo!
... .:' j.- t&e vetybegmnaig poo re
sconiesobysta±ing ttit

game tune: of 20 m mutes m wh ich to com

IT you manage th4t 1 1 1 mr; rxrni : <= i?
■are proceeding to the next U
■ffiS can be accer-
pdsswom thiittsreveai^-.i when the previous
Stage is completed.

Each level w a re-s lest o: logic an I
Thai may Tata i te^opts to reive white

the sheep are, of course, aa stroppy and ob-

tie at possible Some are eomphceh •
other tiems th i the way ilka )

blocks that can go into the leiepcrter

; game requires patience and
and whim the graphics and aotaad weayi
±y<»2 sideways the addicrivenet^ -? te
the puzzling With 20 caverns there is p

enge and wuttspeed always of
the essence things can gat hectic

The ahaep fallow movement pattsTTti
ar cuTtd the nraneia and corridors and ha ve la
Lw.' bumped, dc »uahod ot f-JS-ij - )

forced into gc . inghidtrecnon Tl

-Hf< two basic types of movement pattern but
either wi !i prove tricky to deal with

To aid the di 8 task be has three

types of movemen: which he can use to gst
around ihe ma?e The one for g enet a l use i*
flying, so thai he can go in any dirf*
Digging him to d«appear imo the

floor wh: ing allows him tc burrow

horizontally through the rock walls and join
up areas of the maae

A timer gradually ticks down at you try
to capture the Ramboids, gi v.ng you a total

* 20 different and difficult lerel*.
fr* Some tough pusxUng and logic needed.
►■ You can work through using
passwords and start from scratch to get
high scores.

+■ Gets frustraling if you can't work Ottt a

l*v*L

► Th e logical pnznEes wont suit all.

GRAPHICS

SONtCS

GRAB FACTOR

STAGING POWERS

A A RATING

he walks towards you he
Wher. PV k i\: .ir

.! ciiecuctas aiKi
ptove mconvenjr-nt when you're drying to
walk around oi into^hir.g."? VVhcnyerce - :i^2
jo walk off *he edge of he screen (
fmesbefoi th -- - - screen will scroll in v
at diieGlion : ned

• i3tant wh !ie disc drive

■■ '-"•■■ can get abc utiheplaci
tswhk^.car be picked i

can Oj..y vifirry Iwc at -rn- I ■■ : ■;•
used for allowing you - let new area of
Ihe g ime although some of ft e Rrtrmecttona
are ejttremeh? We

lelefcs yoii a] i i castle via 3 p ith

white an apple le .■ iverabr.c

SECOND OPINION

There iveresorne ^gviptncs ;n ■ -

■j-,:;^- wilOMFtui d&saited raa/tss'o
-•:;<?:?:: tfiegamepi&yjus

:-.■ . Theza v
j n d cfyeia n*:: . r ;;^ bii di as an
timbizai re ,-;::-.-:;- rft itgatn access ro oUmt
: he .-<::-. ' . ■ ; ■

rYfei rway r«aa

This me I the prol

-inland error
I

■ "
■ .
anew ipletely i

■ : eas to be

':nthi-.

ich'tme : ' v •■ . i ■ ■■ ' itry-

II I'ti -.: K . • • ! I

**\*F\

IOiMlieciE>#«tl0tli(r

■

what T'i - yf is ■-;■■ - ; utet

li e ;•

I tcl Qlm \

vidrtu?!

►

AMSTRAD ACTI ON M A RCH 1 0B6 49

:he gamfi if it reaches zero. Imnrjniiy ic

their slow- motion attacks is provided by a
supply oj '.Yfpaules that are available in onlya
limited supply.

i:': i ti adsnirabk effort awards brea-
king r.tfw ground iu disk software but still
need? jmprnvem*?nTs hp J r.rp :1 bfl-ocwfl
[oc "I gains The graphics are f?xrt. i lleni bu'.
the limited nature of '.he gameplay and I a
sound (just a few bird tweet noises) leave

e'iung tc be desire:"; I'l" . : : :." cert ihi ly the
waysoftwaieshowld beheadineybutaay< tit's
-ill .. 01 of money to pay Bdi a I that

quife right

► Lajge playing area.

*■ Good graphics snd peritpeeti ve effect.

► Hopefully a sign of hetter things to

come.

► Gameplay relies on trial and error- not
good In an adventure,
►■ Very little sound.

► Diagonal up and down movement can
prove frustrating-

GRAPHICS

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

[STAYING POWER j

A A RATING

: : : : : :*S

CONTRAPTION

I son Audiogenic. £7.95 cass, joystick or keys

Wad professors once tried to rule the world
or bring dead bodies back to life but the star
ot this game contents himself with feeding
golden appies to his Contraption What a ac-
tually doe* wnl clear but is reaily gets
th rough t hose apples, making your job of col-
lecting -hem very tough irsdeed.

fhsre are ten screens on each of which
four apples have 1o be picked up before
passing on to the contraption to deposit them.
Collecting (he apples likes the form of good
old platform action but it r&k&n place on some
refreshingly devious and colourful screens
Each screen is packed with haaards and has a
desperately abort ttrae limit that will demand
perteerion from the player :

The contraption is on a .separate screen
that appears afiet <evefV ia^we screen ma-
king 20 screens in all to get through. Once
you work out how to' fill the contraption with
apples it becomes quite easy tc complete
each time bur the othet game screens are
diabolically difficult;

SECOND OPINION

The.graphicsseemod to maj-tist^isotil she
pmmmt I V& rvrrsoon on sheAmalrdti.
!::■•■■ i;:v thai ff enough touuike yuu 1vy& tile
game, But evidently tfr&piogianunetsh&ve
! ■. tsomvchmmiorytpgetdmmm
there isn r enough left for a targe number of
screens So, although you got a very
attractive .mi very tough platform game, tf
hasm 't quite go? the tegs to make ti sn aS- time
cisssscAA Ravo,

The professor oniy has !he s^ndaid k*ft,
Tigiht and jump controls and ±sing these he
must avoid all sons o! deadly plant Me.
arumaSsand even a killer snowman. This al]
comes dovm to good {strung and positioning
which is where the pause facibty comes ui
handy for planning your route, The p'iants'are
the moat important tiling 'to find oat aH
Since some of :hem wil: kill vqu but others can
be a handy platform re leap off.

Most of the hazards move iaregulaf pas-
terns either up and down or across screen
and to gel past them there Will be only one
succeaM path Coi^sum with deadly objects
or a long drop loses one of the professor 's
ihtee lives and i* accompanied by a speech
bubble saving "silly me' Mean think of aloi

ftp pr pf pets hlm.w*f itixk
m JMOtH^r m«» h. lb* hwl"
'or polior- oppJ*3

stronger responses in those situations sirw
you go bade to the start of the screen -with all
the app ;es to coher. ag ain

One of the nicest touches is the pistons
that pump up and down like valves on a trum-
pet and have to be walked on or used to boost
you up on the contraption screen The other
gr aphics axe of an equally high standa r ■
although there isn't much animation every-
thing is colourful and well drawn There is
sail a problem when characters overlap but
this doesn t happen loocnea The one time
you really nouce it is whsn uatng me lifting
platforms that are on many screeBs s&met-
srnes the proVs feet sink into it because of the
.' our walking onto live platfc nn

Tlie best gi aphic is saved for the end of a
game where the professor is crushed by a
large apple as it snaps off a branch and plum-
mats down the screen A large pbunpng
oon;rapnon - ' sign is also luceiy done and ih e
Omar tiiiet mchide a demo orali the screens
The sound is less impressive, with no music
and simple effects for j umping and dying

The graphic* are ver/ d!*tmc*iva, reve-
ahhg the JSBG origmanon cf the game, and
altliough thegaraep-ay i.s fairly ordinary
nice little package that would have been all
the more impjeasivefor a few more screens
The ones -here are tough enough but per-

■•'■Y'

. . . iusi a little frustrating when you get too
stuck

► Very colourful and attractive graphic*.

► Tongn tciecni to complfto,

► Nice teqcn.es like pistons, ond gumi
apple nsd bouncing oontrJiptiort.

► Little in tfce way of wand.

f> Screen* may btcpm> fmitrating.

► 11 *cir««tt* iin't k Ibt for a platform
gun*.

SO MARCH 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION s ..^ >«awr»w«i

WS%?&^(B

P p*. #

Treat your computer to high quality
West German cables and accessories.

Tire STICK joystick. 464. 664, 61 28 £12.99
Printer cable 464,664,6128 £13 95
EkI. monitor cats lea 464 £5.05
E<t. monitor cables 664,61 28 £6 75
Slerto cable (2 x phono) 464,664.6129 £4 15
Stereo cable <5-pin 01*1)464,664,6128 WIS
Joystick ejit. cable 9-pin D-type £6,25
J oy sric k V adaptor 464,664,61 29 £4, 55

DUST COVERS

Keyboard 464 £5.95

Monitor (green) 464.664.6128 £8.95
Monitor (colour) 464 ,664.6 128 £6.95
Disc drive D D 1 - 1 . S D- 1 . 464. 664,6 1 28 £4.95
Printer HLO 401 £5.95

Keyboard 664 £7.15
Keyboard 6126 £7.35
Superb anti -glare screens colourJmono 12" artd 14" from
£16,95,

Ask your focal dealer or send ditecL Please addtrforPS
P Cheques andPOsto:

LIGHTWAVE LEISURE Ltd {dept AA)

P box 23, Wallasey, Merseyside
L44 1 EW Tel: 051 -639-5050

!«, ill t« t-t ■* ("**" * "* ""

CWLTCl».fS

.rfSfr-^

•*

All ptUi+1 jfrclud* f*^ »J»d V*B 1*™* Ihcqn. FoitJf O*o>-- #» CPP)l,r OH *H>
itEHtaptf Tr-ft-de Vi-QUai 1 ■ frf *flf**HHf . EJF4>p*J<t 4K4M-TL I4"*d p*-dl* 41 jtfvVrlikiM

Ow+i«t* lurope UjDOhH jmvu4I_ MhI of J*f na Fv-tHSWi** ihiap ttl#.*-k*

EVESHAM MICROS

BRIDGE STREET, EVESHAM.

woncs.. wnit 4nv.

THr 038* 41M9

MFCRO CENTRE

1 JSfr PCrii MORE flOAQ.

COTTEniOGE. BlflMrMGHAAf.

§v;

Amstrad cpc 464

Avoid thf iwfceli *nd sniinsrcrttl guru tod
DYNAMITE tni dim. only Thi mosi.tr.iMal plait
sucteftd- Find yomrjtll in diHtrrant KOnirtt 'f in Ihif
aridinal Mhrinluii to tin en tor fh* KINGS DRB
NEMESIS ■ sophuticilod vwmti of Othello with
miry cnlomiul options and lavflt of play
To mention only toroi oi ih« 50 yimM go itve
flmsirad CsiiHtl* 5D. which inetud#i nxid* irpn
games, WK pjtn>es, wfvtiiilvrv gpmD3, logical,

nclical, and adueationil a* 1 ™**. * 'liflhl bituiIubt.

Bttli tttusiniu ■itrstfljif gflirm. Cnsmnp 60 1 sutures

rmiltrtolourid mi utir dtfintd grsphics.. laywick

citmptBlaliilil^, sound and innsir utili-iinj lh*r ■maiing

IMWH ol your Anistrtd.

Spies Mitsipn
Lunir binding
Fsn-I a-s-fei Ijwt

■ M I H

1. Tinhi

II GllUl.t lllltk

It Itisk* 4d!t»
12. H<a(kliin()

U. BiTil RlM.BE
14. Plif lent

5 Cjbipk tr**itv
<5 Hangnin

17. Punleun Sir
'I rh..- i^
'3, 3D M«e

ID Cel<»| ■?

/f Snl..

,'3 Tunnal ficipi
24 Bj-h 1 Jume
15 [r»ciinj

?f Jillikf T«j
2t Ntrr.ti.i
iS tpittSlnv

». J*l H«fei

11. K«f s Oi!i

)? In[rv4|l

?i Ghana

3S. Sutmi'wii
Jb Ssist Bub

3/ PI*MII

39 aiichHe.lt
49 Dt*tnil*
<J lM«b4nh
il 0*1 V At

H«*l

*? Shu $f» |, « h

41 Im.iOuT

41 Rill

4» r*Khtf

4$ D»rf*»n

Adtclttt

ti JflMsfti*

41 M> v ti (tilt

49 Ttt«(«<fi

Ml Itctijingt

Ibaqjiili'vJ on casselK., ctHnpmwc *.1I- fifia mt St 38
when ujed w.rf. apnttto piiw rnd t,i/n*bt* >wd$ I

Wi MM .««i/ ^flmnA "5ji( v*jv Air s»c f|»M of ed*»^u"»f

P«ni.i5f» PBtS in U.K Artri f 1 CO for uvSiM-ai criers
Frit wntch jwitt tap* will Lb dn-ipatc h«d w'trtin 7 clays

J urictDM n ctuejut, 1 . mdde ^arable io

|...\i»l 'mJnr In Cttll'.nJ* a*m» Lid

n,' m-DufUi (iqr p«ii wrjjj .', r ? Nil uxc isf tQiVv ivn. ill «n.i
' :.r t*in furtr IVdirJriO wfVpit L'n»ro..hy Id jlcruj, Sd/r/j^jnf mnd
fitmtSt^i Vet* «• our 14 houi ivtki ■'WJi- HKHI

WOUTHOVfB C1D

AA 3AfJQ

Hf:|f«il »r»e.

swinyw M vie »

1 VMIEWtF 64 j^ JHHtS

Cascade Gann Lid 1 3 Hiv»" C r PI*0f
H*.n>(j*t» Nnrth VorhE^w*. HG1 ScKj. CnalSntf
Icirphun* I M23JI 504*63 rtg,ir*-stfl„j,7ii«T r^jjs*

OfK 1

2x ei

-'I

aa AMS'IKAD ACTION MAKCH J 98S 51

pride u tiliti e s^

Som piMnnil *'
iT»«*.ng i>im il»*Y
inliingfr CGriyirflhl

i *■* mm an, lti* undar
milt nni be uiad to

TRANSMAT

EASY TAPE TO DISC TRANSFER

rh»BM6Siipr J It uHfl *ns r«f |9«< ■-- ■ ■ it I ■■ v 'i ■■■ . -I il ■■■ tot d H J i ■ I. •;*-:. idifiEl i. nfi i-

thai ether* attempt l< i vV -.,n ira D(»j.| If ink of TrnifMn.i1

■ vn"-ii Nil 2 Hi iti* Serlcui Prognm Too Tan CnAii hvAf"i'-ia Action R*ad*rt Jan

* Mm iiin- iirv i-a .iii-.i|:; In ?CW Ayfj 9!,''

* hijh.lv rocofTl'TO^drt t>v AMSCiUB
« "V#*y *t*!-y le if» i.i.l ny" *Tf .Vi-/k £i 4l!o JtlKMd '*■ flusi of the Bur«h

ii. r- ... .!■ ... :• , fcifltu.-rei meiuo>

■ v operation * Auie Of ncm juio. moo**

* rsi,is.¥ » C*wloy '■;«* * R*n*ma

* DiW nt*U«f Tlldf * S#r*Cf ustn tiw

* A nr H drtwfl wu'lrni ■ 1rqn>— rj".» i;al'

Ci>»«lle £7 36 mc Due f 1 1 45 me
No* avdibbla en ROM, inly f 19,95 ine

SPIRIT

■ i ''■ I dCvirlCfrd *ti(l>rtr'lr .,;i ".'l-ni'-i'l ^O Irflfljrr^: IrJI TlwM- H'l'V\"i'' ■•■

" ■■ : lip* i ;'■'• n i i Hi- istfivov f»td <n ens ecwnmc sadugo » n-arntei

ii...... ;;. ftui-n* h*idarl*M prognmi or>» .<,■.,-

Th.t tOpfl(Mk*nd package on a imiLgnMiatife G«*t*Tie f*r only £6.91 |nc

TAPE TO DISC TRANSFER SERVICE

■,V- it, 1 1 . .1 yuLir 0Hi(j1Nai. Mtt(1|tt(ll|w|ri',r.i- i- >::■■■■.■. fjrHj ipitdioeMllli-Hnrv ji

i i/3 'd'*( tarjtitf&.OO inctud ngthoBrca oithed r jjufaridvout i-aswj-i:

I • -ii ■■■■ Wq'-V lll4lVlY0Ulfl*«*C»r'l<^ht^1^^O.^;«5^■:'

. .... ■ ,■..,„;

ODDJOB

THE DISC UTILITY PACKAGE
YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

A i:i>mt».«ls drtc util ty will! all liw programs YOUh*« toWuSyOu wamodall
together in one srntsi wg package A loial of 39k oi ant spate used
i/ttaT A(*otf J9f *wi«f of Jfie features.

* A oo*npfc)H (Jirijtliiiv wdnoi whm which you can examine the disc
duKtory *nd easily a Her me contents

* PtoOOW CiSScd firin;r;)nis

Hitf*> ptoyrafus (rem i« directory

A comptere sector editor to examine and/or alter the conn-no oi ii»s in

HEX Of ASCII

M,ip on) your disc and locate where dies are on the disc

Prevent programs t'o-m accidentally being orasod

An iiHuliyi.-rii tjiit cupnu Ihui cuh uopy tiios-e damd^erJ/non-stana^rtf

smMckr an a Kingle or h^rin drive sysiem

Format in nai' tie time on either drive. Ideal for S.25 inch secoriadnve^

Tr ansler your unle os«d yce^^ams lil« (roo disc onto lapa to r#c>airfi

«xp«nsiva diitc space

lnnrej«« ih« sprtiwf ni your nise drive by up to- 20**.

toad and list protected BASIC programs

All insuiKiifjiw are suppli«d on disc on a separate help menu

Sifipie to use wi<n single key seteotion

Ma*t«s toil use ol the disc dove

Compatible! with all AMSTHAD CPC compoisr^

AN mi» tor the incredible price vt £ 12-95 on disc oitiy

NEW

SPECIAL OFFER

Buy [*o o. m«r* mlts and rnr^iw
C<Knp>«Eaiy Fr*#, • rtti 1iitw pion*l
A(irm Ctort proor*fTi rif 16QS, *yr
c^ceihtnt £di1er D iiJ»*«rnt>idf do
citMtit - (ttti trio*ir* pIwie*

I AN TC DISC 1RA«Sf£fl SHU TlQHSl

"Th»TJE, Booit"

TRAI^S^IAt OWNEflS ONLV

i hn.-nfiar rwn-tlM •( -<.w it^ Ubl T
rsnsaininfl ap^rn« 9f- irn'.ritef

KtuthMI* li( -l-iT# Wvb\*'n t"r«H<Mfii

ONLY £3.96 tnc (TIF 15!
1 6 i »lic»Ei *tj'i .1- ■■ ■ i- .
It- i 1 -J 1 .- .

PRIDE UTILITIES LTD

(Dapi AA)

7 Chalion Height*

Ch.il +on. Luton

Beds LU4 9UF

England

Tftl: 0582 411686

ALSO AVAILABLE (ROM
OUR EUROPEAN AGEAtTS

75 Soli MitivU#n rt<a
PtrnlfCn J3A' A)T-<> Dahtorfxi u 20-

Vfc-tlGwnsnt

6SAT SOFTWARt

Sfi Ruit flu Tomlu. 3300 BoftJMu*

FflKW

ALL PRICES INCLUDE
VAT AMD P & P

For Euros* *dd £! .OfJ par till*

For Atitlnlult add fl -T6 par wto

«0* «•* ol WhhJ add £1.60

partita*

MIC <4r»M4ltt

FOR ALL AMSTRAD CPC MODELS

(NOW DISC PRICES ARE EVbN LOWER)

Quality utilities itt>m our fast, retiabie and frrtrvdty rnati order sarvtce.
AM enquiriAs wu-itri *.*,•, answernd ExcflHenl discnurtts to ihft trada.
fast OKpon service, 4S houf UK turnaround all orders In fact a complete
prolessional guaranteed service.

LoaD

«RUN

Send yoitf Oisques/POs (Sterling onh/l
or stamp and address (or list (o:
LOAD&RUN,D£PT,MAA P.O. BOX 123
OARTEORD DAI BAA

RING {0322) 73128 FOB ENQUIRIES

OUR POL tC Y FOR 1986 i$ TO PRO VIDE SO? TWA RE
THA T EVER YONE CAN A FFORD

GAMES, ADVENTURES AND SURPRISES!

SUHF-'HlSt oeCfMi&tf 0'ily LOfcO 9. HUhN SpeOtS»W n Arti*lr«d Mf!!v>art land

*i»ra&nrii lirceuiia!'

SiJRPfllS-t: trtftausB wehaveihese ls:eHfB-oasei Do you?

BURPFttSE b**ui\aa 6v6ry:Nngvi9 Mipoiy is distoofiajd

C'lecKthe.neou!,,.

RBP

OUfl PRICE

Macro Cohmtc*

C0.9S

ES.4Scama.

i-o r#d of the Ring i

nits

tn.Oirl^c

Iwaatvo'atofarid

C9.95

£7, 9a oats

Lord« ol MMmglit

C13.S5

CI 1.9 5 disc

T.L.L

fi7,»S

CG./Scisi

T.U.L.

ci3.es

ci i .as di«c

Bloc*.b«i*tefs

C7.0S

Cfl.7 5 t.i-.-.

BiooKbvjttrrSrCold Run

C».»s

CO ,-iS c.i?,.-.

Discovery

C7.*S

Cft.OScaea

Amiott 3 ' diic a 1 D only C3 7-95

PLUS MUCH MUCH MORE ALL DISCOUNTED!!!

LOAD A RUN Ttift AMSTRAD MAIL ORDER

SPECIALIST.

RING TO CHECK NEW RELEASES NOW

M : All ttfit** u iclutJi VAT and Pfc» Ift U.K- Add F"Si* kft 6' *C*»H f c-r h.f **p re.

Fer Eurc>»**A 4 Qy««*ai: All pm* i^duOl VAT a indud* R&R in Europt.

Eltawtwn add S00 •«r» for r'AI* hardware outiHJt Europa add t2 50

THIS 14 OiLV A $ELECTK>Ff QP NEW RELEASES *-ND RECENT ADDITIONS TO
OUR STOW. "LEASE RING FOR LATEST RELEASES

EAO.E.

BSPITflODgOSCair DISCOUNT SOFTWARE

3STATIOM CRESCENT, WESTCOM8E PA^K 6LACKH EAT H

SE37ER,

Access orders anguine*

tel 01-305-0521 „..„..„

ALL PRICES INCLUDE FREE FA$T DELIVERY IN THEU K ONLV PLEASE ADD

70P PER TAPE ON EUROPEAN ORDERS AND 100 PER TAPE ELSEWHERE

M*w titles arrivino aiverY day, please rino for detail*.

Mtnw

DU*

JUMOU

r*d

Wt*.«

set vs sn

»»

WJlMON

J»

f 91

TW9rU**t

tflJhl'iOR

Mom

STfttl« ftiC*

*S':

rtt

fHWKWlBHB tonus

JWttKl

l»

dfiBaMngaAt-Mwri

lts*S0(lr»(

•AHieftwnnDS

milAMTOWl

t»

RVaMTitlli:

tMttUU^4H

i«

■MCAUMtOUrtHllfeUU

ttGNHr)

iti

Houtmiw

rnxl' fwjii:

HU«MOftSlJf«BTW

SJU«™jigLUTf

Katau

jfnrtijiti

'ft

urjHH«LT

HWff run* It »'

t»

laj

UWITHHIBiT

R&lTjllrT.tT

TiaaeaHHjMn

XTSITIWUr

l«

■ SJUaCUR

ffJitWW

UMCM

■Wifian

nrj*MPI

WTBlfOl

• M

IB)

C9MS0 Mk»50

(mm

laj

T*mi

wtapniaru

fVWNlU

fjamaa*

iii

30lOXM4

■ami

i«

usujLttarvttrwX'

3»i»»ri 6iry

?tt

BVKtCHiH

Hnuvaari i

tHMCxfiS

nanUrJnuriW"*

■UMWtUllt

H*iX-R

tft

'«*

r«jtfT*im«(

THr14BC11,UI|,i:,'J

ti«

:«

niR»

-t^... A ,:;■■

It!

HA***

WRWtujH

J*J

*aM*uorHa

Bin

Hal

Ifl

HMHTanwnrx

^uvitii.isiKiiomi

l!i

tanw

HHTUlilttWLKII

>«

»«

lAscisocait

WA9.V$tm

Hjvmgt

v.tkt

i«

*t*4T

UHHtllH

ill

Tl»

T«snfiij4a7i*

CUHCUJUA

l>S

UliatTftTKf

WMttDDrtwtawa

IJ.r-.Jiifktl-S-

«KW4fHrJ«

KEtMWn

J,H

rtgau-lMJrMMuii

iv. '4

jioHrcoo

I.H

*tl **»

lHOI|!L*ftiiTWWH

Hi T*s

HWWMW"

t*i l«

nfwTaiwu

■in

1* 1*1'

SawTHrAiiHai

>ft

«« I'M

IWMIt 1 «HfWW

!«'

*M »*)

Ml>Jl'

I,M-

IH r «

Hiannif

IH r*e

■ , , - ,

i-4

I.H >*

in r*"

■

IH '*

?«

tat ' «

•«

ii'

m >*r

in
in

IH PH

;■ iht

IIV

■;k

ih Mr

;r. ' •-;-!

i» r*}

Da*hi

»n

>tj

in it

■n '«"

Ha**H)

barrVtm

;,..,. . ,<■

iin

1*1 t«r

iti nr

DtfK«onwan

lfi TM

7,-.>l -

u.n

in »*r

7 ? .Hi :j .

ftji

b lit .*>>■•" -- >*♦! ■

■ia

tug mi

■■in

let i«

6»mtii«ff

•is

m )■

.1 itbnrti

■*»

tun

in '•>

¥»HH-<

».H

in m

lipk^3"Ui>

H«

"vsrtUww

»» '*

*n/inf

«5<

itn

tli ?x

lfi im Pah

nr.

i:.K

in i"

Sf*»0*»

u*t

tn in
tn in

38f>i«trM

ii *

K-t.

BaM

II IB

in in

iMtto«-n***i

in )«c

■M*

i« TU

IM IN
*« IH

in «n

H K

■ ■ ■

■?JH,

AMlftf

IT.H

in w

Dm -,

rtn

in tn

H Baak

« v.

S>»

Mlf>

MATatmiMLir tn t» HittKnais

■ WfWWvfi* rm fs 7-*i*TA*f j wuuuu w her «&■* Asrtmf. t£*sf an»<t«*orMw«i*wfo*

WHT NOT COME AND PICH UPVOUR SOFTWARE PERSONALLY
FROM OUR Dt£COUNTSHOFAT3STATlONCHESCENT,
WESTCOMBE PARK, BLACKMLATH. LONDON SE37CR RtGMT
OUTSIDE WESTCO MS E PARK RAILWAY STATION ONTHE
SOUTHERN REGION. OPEN ON SATURDAYS ONLY FftOrVl 10. 30 TIL
6 00 PM.

52 MARCH 1936 AMSTRAD ACTION 1

CASTLE ASSAULT

fllua Mhqn. £1,50. keys only

ii ng .,■! itgtttfrnmthe ■' : ' is

■ n •' tS -■'• L.uib L'l,d:[n:: -j Hnmg

imaginative game" It'sbatetyOK md

•••i.ii i l:!n. i»'Ctlnite;.:.' fffiiai

.. isUe wali£ whi :1

v.: 00 ••

their " • " . ..;.:■, whi.e on

the '
>rrns

On ttvi' there are purple

frognf?: n pits who periodically leap U[

down if you cti!,jr them y. ider

t rapidly i dorm

Gel tt> the lop ot the sc{ 0$n and ycu go en to

Which looks remarkably
the Or si

SECOND OPINION

ffease, pJessa pleasotake thisgames

pieces ."• oftiustra

iofuriat

i ■■■

tOpl :

tfl# first 8CTQ4R H

r/'s/u

feffW ■ '. ■ ■■ ■'.',;■;?

But now YOU 'l fao ' wilh the otidtl
■ rocks dropping down si
ramp ick patrolling these Asoci

- L-- enl thawholeled

orrftQily Excitin
-n;.T(T .'

Graphic . mo is n©

•_T -iie-ai : but thai wuuldn I be fffl
drawback lor a budge: .abel if the task were
r eating Sadly Castle A$-

■ is pretty dul

► Frustrating -if you like that kind of
thing.

► Hard to control.

► Tedious game task.

► Unimpressive graphic* aad sound.

GRAPHICS

SO NltS

GRAB FACTOR

STAVING POWER

A A RATING

39%
35%
2T%
19%
22 %£

:;::&

;;^

SCREWBALL

Blue Ribbon. £2.10, keys only

ves on m budget form on the
Anutirud. .though this clone has a couple of
features lha; disiingmsh i: from ei ei

Ions

folate e normal pyramidal struc-

:f cubes Ihe layout is snsleud jec^n
'■miv to firs ;i te complete but as you make
your way Ihrcugh the screens more and
moro blocks disappear- leavcig some dan-
gerous holos for you to n«"

You, the eponymous Set ewba r, to
change the colourof each cube wrtl
endaor lose a life icvothU»hyfeoti

ing around jnd landing at:
for t unately iher eaie some v ei y n asiy black
bugs around whonc on iy spon bizarre fuzzy
red haiT aos, birl also do :nr you if y:x
yourself on lh<_? squat e ds diem

Howe vet not Jo: nothing aj e you named
Sc-tew&a£ The 'ower half of your t
30rk9Cf e w a quick press on the ^ ;

SECOND OPINION

aapestvt , ,,, 3-j

wfa.1 - rcan&tnly
;sn r fas bosi The gamaplsyca® be qwre
: ,'.' tiieie jii$!is& ( Btfoug$ variety to

nk#but Aft& dtsa i 9imgi&at

'1:^:6 SftClhing else fo^sf ere/red fii

and you ve whirled a hole in to the blo-k You
' ien lure the snipid bug* on :o :hern acd
send them to ihra r doom Bu I bow a re f»vsr-
enthuaiaatlc drilling san result in ycu r p<Min
ingyouraell

Screwball is f>y no .^-rrnrfi r-.t !f.e n Tr
- .ilea ot a.j ;n.T.n,i. game. But it

iraphica.aoundaralgamBplay
to keop ycu a l rat least a Utile win Id

■» Cute graphics.

► Very playable.

► Cheap.

!► Nat very original.

► Not much staying power.

| GRAPHICS

S0NIC5

GRAB FACTOR

|STAV)NC POOTH

A A RATING

DIAMOND MINE

Blut Ribbon, E2.5Q. hevs-only

Diamond minea are uniikely to beucnie a
si friend me haa an ab-

surdly si ■ match the

^ir-p CSOlJlld .' ii ' • ' " fii

tho» ■ ' ■ i ver oeen a saanput ■■ \
. i Ehcee who veaeen sc many that th< i

■i Uscnnnnation ftas become totally

You si i- ■ efrekipol maz lay* u • on
liulL. ^ which gobbles the diamonda

(dote] Rushing iroundlnthemaze-Arehi

j (purple i ibs) v a: roup

the end of the pipe trot iffhey touch any
fi;:i-r yno i igl I

uvj'-l-ow:; and retract which frees
tion and allows you to get baclc and gt

The whole th* Interest of the

ftJwISTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 53

SECOND OPINION

>!sj& v?sg& again witha good old sgngle
screws jd.'.'ji- d-d- ;i jei not tobePaornan bj
121 produdsg same new e ' sj-jj ?.'jc.\i;iJ sfi#

e/jciii up heiiig Fiicman . Ybu ttztg& ? Jm vs

Some Sib i ratfJ -,■■ a Ve completed s screen
Jj u,' - .' :' •■> ; .'/..'.' .'.■.■ •.';■■ tlt'ng oF&ttja vu vriU
.■ uv. ip !.i-/!T you'causing drooping of tb®

i ■'•',," ■'- ii/.'.i., tiitgpf the tmiw- Those
nari i >: g&mi tS . ,n :■-< I budg&i ktbi fJs a fe«(i

game 75 in teaming ro press redact rather
than a cunlzol key going back tni yourseU
loasi: a ii:e . So f<xi can have some fun for

ribcnt 10 Once you've Searned tj

roriTT.'.i yoyr^if ~he game is J bore, despite

: : . . : ::i<ize3.

GOOD

NEW

* Instant fun.

BAD

N E W

► The fun lasts about ten minutes.

I GRAPHICS

SQN1CS

GRAB FACTOR

|STAVING POWER

A A RATING

29%

%§*

GRUMPY GUMPHREY
SUPERSLEUTH

Gremlin Graphics. ES 9& cass. jarstiek or hays

Gumphrey has been aptly named because
you don I have to be an ageing, <mort-sighted
store detective to get very annoyed with the
customers and staff in this particular depart-
ment store. His task is to complete jeba in me
store withoui geiting himself sacked. Need-
less to say, everybody else seems deter-
mined, to make life as hard as possible for
him.*

The store has five main Goers made up of
39 screens which are connected by cor-
ridors. The mam lift or an escalator Each
screen ia ahown m 3D with Grumpy able to
walk in front of and behind the unaltnacl
designed objects and shop ccur
Grumpy is a well rounded figure who wadd-
les about the place in search of something to
do , and although the animation is good he and
the other characters are too small for this to
be appreciated properly

SECOND OPINION

I have d tut sjJ 'sympathy for OuiBphttty bul
the same things th .1 1 /jj jJre him grumpy rts l :<
.■?>"■ u nx Np to help him The shoppei s are
infuriatmg Whybasn t Gumph got a gun w
shoot gtatH ■'

His tasks are many and varied but failure
to complete any of them, particularly where
the boss is concerned, is bad news. Early on
in the working day of nine tofive Grumpy wiB
have to take the boss his tea and clear the
shop of ducks (no 1 don't under stand either 90
don't ask). Later on you may have 10 supply
the boss with booze or even put out a fire .

All of the tasks can be completed with the
30 Odd items that are found in tho various
departments Grumpy can carry three at a
rime so knowing where each one-is so he can
get to them quickly is important One parti-
cularly nice item is the skateboard Thai allows
you to whizz about faster than usua; - very
handy, This is the adventuring elemem of the
game and wilt cause seme problems and
hard thought to hold your inieresf

if Grumpy fails :o complete tasks, bumps
into customers or generally incurs the bosses

0* D £: S

Scor

PlTHi

^9rp£* ft

YiW'cf b* <}tvtn(ty l«
r* you hod to wotk in
thherera

wrath bis gauge Will gradually run down -
when exhausted it .eads to a warning lelter.
raur d those and he's out on his est without
so much as a redundancy _paymern or pen-
sion However, for every success his; score
goes up, as does the playeT a satisfaction
rnnng.

Iftlfcrtunateiy, someone obviously had
The idea of introducing shoppers whe would
hamper the tasks by generally getting in the
way This is where fee gameplay falls down
because they would drive anyone compEete-
iy barmy They make control difficult
because they bounce you in ail directions
and are difficult to avoid because they're all
ever the pisce. usually Three or fcsir to a
room, and 1 haven't found a w.^y of y^pelliiig
mem

They comn ir. all shapes and sizes old
wotneit w*feo call you a clunisy oaf. hippies
who s-op you to teii you something q: mind-
numbing interest, pipesmokers who bounce
you harder than Big Daddy and most anooy-
ingly of all thieves who even knock the ob-
jects yon «re carrying on- of your hands
there in no respite froai this January sale
madness and it spoiled the adventure ele-
ment for. me by making the whole thing irn.
menscly frwarrating-

The paqksgB is otlierwise Very agree-

able with plenty of tasks to complete, loc-
ationSi objects, decent gsaptnea and 4 ^ice
rjtle tune Show me one mote shop
though and I "11 snap my joysnek

E W S

► Good 3B graphic*.

> Plenty of tasks and objects,

»- Nice tenches like skateboard.

> The shoppers ajre incredibly
frustrating.

► Many graphics are too 5 m a 1 1 and Jack
colour.

GMPWCS

SONICS

GRAB FACTOR

STAYING POWER

A A DATING

54 MARCH 1986AMSTRADAC 1 !OrW. ,

LUCASFILM GAMES
PRESENTS

^^^^•^^^^^^^ thft iienf hostile planet

W Miff J1WB W ^.SKJfti » "£f

' «"'"o, , .3S« l - M! "

■■

m p

\ jfcSk

[

>•*

- j * i

* %
% *

% %
%
i

•••

pVCTIVISION i

I HOME COMPUTER SOFTWARE]

TTE ttSM) 4 DtSK (£14 99). COMMODORE 64 CASSETTE (£9.99) & OSSK (£14 99).
SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM CASSETTE (£7.99} AND AMSTRAD CASSETTE {E9 99)

»W i. utB5f .Mn LB An F%gnt> Rcwrrvfcf

> Monjica Lfl5lt)f 5 Speclrum- Qfasns Wooviorh _irr-?*cods and qcod ccmtfUJief Ki'r. niwrywhoro

-■m FGafl h HE Tn!:Oi 93S HiS

■ow Computer Strftwar* TM* ■§ ■ regtitevd traOfnar. o* Ac
t«4, Bmcueorr Fnetakjs 1 and i • e-Brrw»its c' iiM« Lid Ls»d ur

WHO DARES WINS II

Allxj.il'f. ffl 9&cnss, |0V5lick only

worry- you haven t missed Wliodaiss
wins! The title is because tht original game
was witnctxawn after a l^J dispute due to its
similarity lo aji ni^ada qanp called Co«!-
nwrjud The official conve rs: on ofthat game is
due out soon so u will be inLeiestrr.c ro see
now they compare

Thegame really gets back cade

£ of kilii itg e verything ai sight in a frantic
battle o: reflexes and speed. Ilia! would be
enough for some, bu; v. has Uemen -

dous 3D graphics and backgrounds •---
wide variety o: screens said shallen i
control a man on j mission to c^p' 111 ' 1 ' "
outposts 4ii d release i u s. fa

n Robotron as you
. bui
.he more complicated nature of the g&rne
soon ;eveal3 itself

There are eigh- and

each one is reached bv fighting tht

Tal other screens These ire all ccm^
posed of many different larid^c r =f: : '~ ■ " '■•■
including ruined buildings, [roes, river*
walla, foxholes, railway tinea and fen
Whateve a u- there will

be lots of soldiers and other things wait
kill '■

The man you * i the enemy sol

-j have t he Mine armament of a i

a limned supply of gtejiades
Rifle f.re can be sprayed j round in true
Rainbow jiohil anything thalrr

while grenades can be us
ally concealed soldieror >.
this killing wii. hump up the sc
ar e some nice bonuses to bo h

movitiy soldiers at an ouipost or rescu-
ing prisoners

The prisoner appears on some tr
in iron* an execu s after a few sec-

wil! shoot him You have to let she
executioner have it first and will be re war
ded by tl ,er waving happ.

before he ungraTofuU',
you t ia wrath of the enemy on your

own

The intrepid, battle hardened soidier
canprcgreaa between screens at any lime by
walking^ tjidosi every

lastorsec:

back to full siren :

There are a number of things ma twill at.:
progress. Rifle bullets are hm lUess m supply
and even though gr^ades can tun out there
^upply balloons that drop in replace
rnents Grenades aiso have the advantage of
killing over a wider rad . i even when
thrown by the enemy they can shl destroy
it own men.

The graphics are superb with 30 being
i wed togr sal effect - r

for cover against bull-

them .is '■•■■ te is good uae of

' ind animation as well particularly

-nicies travel actuss itcreen The

1 effects are suitably noisy and she Utle

screen has a shott version of the thai

Although the blast tug and
suit everyone the game is fi qte
age tiding g

and a variety off*,-- .id be

i with sot
.i i :1 . . ■fos and ifyoudo conquer eight

- fiat happens? That's right
the same e.gr.f, only ei :or

Great fun b tailing away at the enemy.

Terrific 3D graphics, characters and
col oui.

Eight outposts comprising several
screens each.

Some really tough screens against

On«otNweih«r

SPELLBOUND

M.istemmiic'sArlilitci Dimension, f" 99cass, inysltdi ar ktrtn

The MAD games are a new range from Mas-
tori ronic that reflect the company's growing
prominence in ir,r market Despite the in-
crease in price the game is still £5 cheaper
than most "full price" software and puis
many such rule* lo shames lis an arcade ad-
venture thai really lives up to the "adven-
ture" jabnl and features a new system called
windiinasion".

You take trie rale of the Magic Knight
(hero of Finders Keepers) whose task is lo
rescue your master Gimbal sna seven oilier
people from the Castle of Earn I; a all
Gimbal's fault, of course, and you have lo
release him from a white-out before return-
ing the seven others to their space/time z
(hoirte sweei home!) Th=i- is of course diaboh
cally difficult and involves a good deal of de
vt ous puzzling.

The castle is made up of luck-screen
rooms viewed from the side. L'ach one is
mc^ybare except for coteirful and detailed
ornaments and plants. There are also the
standard smareering of objects and ch-
ters. which are what occupy moat of Magic
Knight's time

The window menus are how all the ad
venture aspects ol tr.e gant? are controlled
when he isn t wall »&tm locations or

making prodigious leaps. They are pulled
into view over the game screen and have a
wealih of options wh ich c.-m be dressed The
mam menu has "lit: usual commands to pick

updi y ■■-■I ■■-, in car ry up loTlve

. Neigh! Mh
objects from ot gjve them to other characters

inorcic] x-jtorformii task.

Objf?ctu cjr; be examined to reveai
whether they might have something interest
mg to be read . thei r weight and wh? ■ ■
have mrfgicrfi powers It'sn
can be estamined b\v characters and MK as
well This ■ iheir physical attributes of
tih happlne^, stamina, spell power
and food level Pcor old ME has to worry

about all ihe other characters as well as him-
splt soihat overybody has to bekep; well fed
and healthy IJMKci eotherj

■he game finishes- i u e ag

hour lime limit not real lintel
There are some objects and
tliii intioduoe new commanda to the main
mnnu snd :his L - an be extended till it n

56 MARCH 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION eb

amo shore ore

* oo yc

dr.-:: •

the hate

murderous enemy crossfire.

Good variety of game features and
screen design.

C an be frostratin g having to start a
screen fro ru scratch .

May not suit those who dislike violent

games. ^^^^^--^^

■ oo.

? avoided
fall irraodloi-:
MORTAR: d cct

like qr^nades Ibut '+•

The magnificent eight

There are eiohf em*r *h«ro*t*M lh*> will b*
eTwoun'ered and you'll r«ed to ger to-tnow
!tvem vcU.

GlMjA Li rha <a( cleti w-iiaf d »lw oat y«v
imn ihnmoi ond hat ra be refcowd From a

I THOB; w»nii hF» hammer back and nslohr
hdp youovrwitfiniHr.
FLOW THE DWABF; euie Wtle felle* *hs
proves 10 b* tow#r of ttrength wh«n given
o boltl^.

SAMSUN THE 5IPONG; Krone but irupld.
ELRANDHALFElVEN no' oU-a-jihalpful w
yOv n*oy heed to pui him is ilesp,
LAOV ROSMAfc rwwei aiound n lot,
per lieularly In rh* Irfi.

THE (VANSNtE: vou dan> *an1 him la oppeof
«w Monbeeaufc you hovf tolOH on (run to
«je« Minn
Ofllt THE aesmC: the problem Is Knding Mm!

SECOND OPINION

Stili great vsj'im?. eiren ifrfte Added
Dimension' is an extra quid. This game is

-inty smoother and more sophisticated
than many you would pay full price for, The
windowing works very weti, but can take a
titBe lime to get used to.

The game is by no means easy Lots of
brain power is necessa ry to keep wack of
the numerous characters and rfwtr status,
and to figure cut what on earth to so with the
many objects yon encounter.

the- screen One of the most important. Is

the ability Eo command other characters to do
things, either to help you or just lo stay alive
Tr.sy can be • <: and drink, help !a;i

aalee p. wake up, go away or be happy Some
are more useful than others but you'll have ;o
be careful because sometimes they may not
be cooperative particularly about objects.

Another important command that you
Will come across is control of the lift that gets
yoc between the seven floors of the casite.
Other helpful additions are the ability to lo-
cale a character Cihey wander around when
they're awake), blowing ihings and cas:ing
spells There is -i ]st of several spells ( each

one explained by iis name.

This is yet another excellent package
from Mas:ertrorac with some exceLlem
graphics, great in -game sound and some fas-
cinating puzzles. The window menu system
may not be TliAT original but il makes the
adventure side very playable and really
opens up the game's potential and det.-.

Excellent graphic* and animation.

Wonderful music plays throughout the
gam*.

Window menus add a fascinating now
dimension.

Some really tough puzzles to solve,

Muld-character control also adds to
the game.

Still a great price.

May take time to get into the puzzle
solving.

GRAPHICS

18%
H ! ■

mmmm

'-5M0«WHjl

>m i

■ - - * ».fl HHODNBIB

SONiCS

GftABFACTORnTOi

1 STAVING , POWER

qrr:,

A A RATING

*> U c

fo.-*^*****™*^ AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 57

SPINDIZZY

Electric Dreams, £9.95 cass, £14.95 disc
joystick only

The success of a game called. Marble Mad-
i)6$$m ihe arcades and Ihe emergence of the
Amsiradas a leader m the computer games
. . combine here to produce an original
game that will hfivn other machine owners

; like Pavlovian dogs to g<
Arnold h combines marvellous graphics,

lasting puzzles and a lymg area tc

make a stunningly original an I aging

guns

Gyroscope was the ELrsi attempt at a
game like tms bu: is easily stir passed by me
complexity of ihi:. ; :une You

Spinj [»y around tie 40

screams that make up a weird world of puz
re a 3wjf r and steady hand an
the joystick us inquired. The awn is to collect
jewels that aro tucked away on most of ihe
screens, often in seemingly impossible spotB
tore

Puzzle plus

The puzzling element to the game Involves
many tests in logic and experimentation
using the various types of symbol and
surface that appear on the floor. Some have
o simple physical effect tike Ihe ice and the
trampoline* white others like the switch end
duo squares have □ mare compeared
purpose.

They con be "picked up" fn on "active"
box on the screen and used to activate
something else there or possibly beheld onto
for use elsewhere. Most often they will
operate lifts but they will also be needed to
...well thai would be telling -find out for
yourself.

There Is even o room where you can
learn hew these squares behave, Thisthls has
an odd musical quality about it that makes ft
unmist ok table, ll's placed in an areo of the
ga me where you can learn a bout control as
we 1 1 a s the s ped cil feo lutes - a sort of school
for spin. This added dimension gives the
game *he mental OS Well as the a read*
challenge that lakes It right out of the
ordinary and Into the osiounding.

Control of your lop is very eensir.v
responds to every (witch on the joystick but
onoe you've g. : '!;■ ■ hang -•: thrir it make;

ly manoeuverable andgpeody tool. The
Sanscape doesn't help out most of me
e;iher with steep slopes, narrow ledges, high
waLls f gaps in the floor, tight corridors long
."irr..paandtraach'

y ou.Th a early games will be spent exp]'" ■
this environment and won.

Timthit

trprlsss-
Once you've goi togrips with all th
finer points of movement can be dealt

moat important d«
vtded by the fire buttbi n give the top

ation in ashen sp ropel

it paal some danger There will also be I
when u wili need to be nudged very S;Owly
about in tight spots where speed wtU be fetal,
The whole (ixercis* arformed

down
but is puahod hack up every time a [ewe! i*
collected . If while trying to leap over a gap -ji
the floor or sneak along a ledge the top
should p o lis doom then time ia

•■ and the top reel
off. railing to ihe

ground will also lose Time and ir.e top will
explode in four pieces.

All of ihia is impressive e uHt'a

• j the game' y;

Our jaw really drops oj

These include special puis as. a map

function, view switching and a green screen

■-■sx The map and the view "switc

■ It much easier to get a round and locate

ill with thfi map showing where an

;ed once you've

SwIM ti

:eroojn

and the view awitchin

lowing V'"H ;

m order to locate anv

CwnpoMi
Mrtti

SECOND OPINION

Fiendishly compulsive and graphically
superb, ihisisa knockout Masiergame It's
about time someone came up with another

corkm g An&n&d original - Electric Dreams
will get their reward right now as vteU in
heaven

The sheer size is impressive enough.
but it's executed with enough brilliance to
make it an instant classic. Qnze yen Ve got
thofeelofths controls you 're unlikely to
stop until you 'y& cracked H. And rh#t could
be quitesomn time

58 MARCH 1 986 AMSTR AD ACTION i«dct fcec*™.

Spinning fop

weeks afiet buyincj it

top

W«ki

O.-i.V..,

5 "t-tiij

: ^S

About 400 acreens to explore.

Stunning graphic* and screen deviga*.

Testing puzzles and traps.

Good view switching facHUly-

Some extremely difficult screens but
very enty to get into.

Knack* spots off Cytoscope (add we
thought that was good).

Am strad only. Ha, ha, hal

/rc( e

MB ;

"J^P***,,

'I.

GRAPHICS

sowes

GRAB FACTOR

|S.'ATIHG POWER

A A HATING

very ngcess^

since tEae screens are all

delightful 3D |hwalbai cam

often objure iV.e view. To preven*

ng disorientated a compass always
if north
Graphically the gam? ta superb with
tiantly designed screiiJn.1 in many d

flefcrio

i -rig blocks. Sound is ■ i the: add

;hese are well done and alei i you to

; i. happening . The garneplay is tough lo

■

; wi!l bfl some while
raanyorn h is game but Igua rati'

you won t be abie to stop piayifl

mom)

si?**

This 1$ on original title that will doubtless
undergo conversion to other micros - but
they won't be as impressive or hove as much
impac i as thti Is g olng to. We ore
undoubtedly seeing the emergence of the
Ami trad as a leader in gome* development
rather than just o machine to be converted
ta It may take oil of 1 986 to complete the
transition but there's no doubt It is
happening,

Yfa At Kvtg-rvwcii another enarmev»iy
impressive game that come out on Arnold
first ond Am soft are continuing to improve
their game* and produce original ones Ilk*
Tank Command, Doors of Doom and Golden
Path, Z90 programmers are beginning to
see the Increased potential of the Armtrad
and are switching development of games
from Spectrum lo Armtrad at the market
grow),

The utilities and hardware market h
already more active and fast moving than
For other machines and games are going the
lame way. 1 9B6 is definitely the year of the
Armtrad.

AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 59

Ocean House • 6 Centra) Street Manchester * M
Ocean Software is available from selected branches of: (W'.WH SMITH r JIUIAIUJm WOOiMfOaTU I 1SMYS

®m

^S Telephone 061-832 6633 ■ "felex 669977
imbelows, Greens, Spectrum Shops and all good software dealers. Trade enquiries welcor

48K Spectrum

chRonicLes of the Uno of faiRLiqht
i . a pReluoe. the light ReveaLed

Fair%nt

ByBojAnqeBORQ

(author of The Artist')
Maybe the game of the year!"

Your SoecTtum, November 1 985

, . . one ol the most sophisticated games the Spectrum has ever seen.'
"... one of the ten best programs ever made (or the Spectrum."

Popular Cam puling Weakly. October 19B5.

" . . . the best arcade adventure of the year."

Your Spectrum, November 1985

12/13 Henrietta Street. Covent Garden. London WC2E 8LH1

177 time- ft97179

RALLY DRIVER

Hilt MacGihlion. f 7 95cass. joystick or fcays

This is a long way from the Pate Position
lookalikes that spring up onmost computers,
it relies less on reflexes iftan on good plann-
ing and real driving skill The planning js
important as you work out a route through the
forests uelda and' towns of she rajiy white the
driving skill is needed to siner along, the'
twisting roads covered with mud , water Slid
other hazards.

The rally is split into three stages each of
which has to be completed m a qualifying
time in order to pass onto the next. The-
from the car is am uf the [run: window wi: I
road ahead, passing landmarks and hoi
rouble On the dashboard of the car at
steering wheel, time elapsed, penally lime,
speed, turn indicators:, handbrake and dis-
tance travelled These don ' t need to be refer-
red to loo often, most concentration being
aimed at the speed and direction of ;he

Control of the car is straightforward
enough but the couree demand* plenty of
work on the driver's part to got htm around
safely and quickly He's trying to qualify for
the next stage by getting one at the top seven
times, ten opponents being computer con-
troj&d 11 (be star*. Speed vs needed in order
10 make that time but too much speed will
induce mistakes and those cost tune in per.
allies that, are added on

SECOND OPINION

An intelligently created game ^-.st cleverly
simulates some oi ttmskBisneededin

::..:ugh I'm^ci pure how

.-... y. ,,j. : ■ | r . . -jjr,; n tty>

'..' .'. tsinlynior&fflter&sting

andnsen&liy aomaBrtmg (has your average
rev-em up

si: id cr whole sections may be flooded and
impassable iorong you to iake a longer
route. On the other hand there are shott ou$s
that may cut some time oil the journey if

they 4 re open for use ,

the qualifying times are quite tou'-rh to
achieve and making the grade certainly win
lake a Jot of practice The control at fir si feeis
very r>d d but a$ you adjust to in e d riving gk$l&
needed taking corners and junctions can be
done qtii' etiily The map that is pro-

vided with the game provides. plenty of pre-
planning 'or the race and although you can
learn the course there are plenty of factors
■hat mean you can't rely on always putting up
a good ptJi to r manoe ,

The graphics are reasonable with the
display chan suit the weather q-on-

dftic&B although the screcri update can he
rather jerky At Uk&ox speeds thing.'? can
move much taster and smoother but this is

ier since a crash can cause iwavy pen-

a This is certainly more deman±ny than
the avornge driving game and presents a
very tough tang form challenge

► Very difficult to qualify , let alone wis.

► Good eour**» with nice random factor
thrown in.

► Nice features ttke cow* on road and
road map.

► Good gT*p hies , if a little slow at times .

e> Control Can he Tery tough at &r*t.
+■ On* mistake, Ilk* the real thing, can
ruin a who]* stage - infuriating.

GfWHICS

SUNICS

GRAB FACTOR

[STAVING POWER

A A RATING

73 V.

71%

Youdott'lft**da
drhtag IhI Ier *h -

Running off the road costs a 30 second
penalty but if you're travelling tco feat a five
minute penalty"may resufr from a bad crash
Penalties can aiso be picked up for hitting
cows cTspectaionnn 'he road! which have io
be warned with your horn to move theth
Time control gates appear on every stage
and will Also cause decays sdaceyou have to
stop at them *o check in Fer each gate you
need to type in a. two letter code to avoid
anoihe r penalty The code is on a sign ?
wheiebefore the gate which you have to pass
stow enough for the co-driver to read

As if these hazards weren't enough the
weathar may filso doits worst tcyou. Mud and
water may appear en the read to make you

r\mfi\

rordr^^rwi^ AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 S3

AMSTRAD

464-664-6126

A MEGA SPACE GAME
OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

• FAST VECTOR GRAPHICS

• FULL COLOUR 3D GRAPHICS

• SCROLLING SCREEN SCENES

• A FULL TACTICAL GAME

THE CYBORG BATTLE STARS HAVE INVADED
THE FEDERATION SECTOR DESTROYING ALL

IN THEIR PATH YOUR MISSION r HALT

THEM 8EFQRE EARTH IS DESTROY ED-
Piuue i Fry deep space irtMwns m Gttrcruser Ota*y 1

-js»»a US Tactual distils to monUC* Alen aciivily and to

sftati target Baira> Stars Encountr*r attacks from
AMf<i Space Frontiers and battle with tham -n Past
Victor graphics

Pruse 2- Laineh Space Ranger craft jrri fly
mesons n Fwl Colour JO Raphes asansi target
Battle Stsm. Orbit (he Battle Sta.- bekire descem
and (tying alio (Is dockmo P^ r F »V throunfl Ha
tunnels haarjing <w the reactor vert! cnambor
where an aMaek must be Iswiched when the?
are needed, Jel Bike Commands** carried on
board your cart, may be used tor sabotage
■asks- depicted in scrolling screw scenes
I'hrouarvjus eech mission A*ens ere constantly
attacking, and the ;setic"l situation la
continually efiBnoina"

CASSETTE VERSION
DISK VERSION £11.95

£8.95

MlCROBYTE SOFTWARE (AA2J
18HII.GRQVEROAD
NEWQUAY
CORNWALL TR7 2QZ

MlCROBYTE
SOFTWARE

TEL: OT373 6B86

I I- ■«»■■■■■*■■■ I M * | t |,

pdliiiiaiinr^iru
jiii«p4«^P Iiiiii li
iiitii^iiiiiniiii '
-«■» piiiiiwrifijii

■ B#lPT#Pi rMKPjIK
■ »EI1X*»II1. f-IEIHb-

ilii-ki#»saiipiriEi i*:
iiiiiiiitiinnir«i

.¥*!■•«* ■ ■ifciiailiZ

Mtti

■i i ■

QUAL-SOFT

W/mWSWm

Sports simulations

' 'A real cnait&nge to th e th inking footoatf fan Bobby Robson couio Co worse man na ve a crack Am «* -d Action

at this in hispr epa ration for She World Cop , review, j .™ • ae .

Qu a Isoft comment At lastan INTELLIGENT managomem game for tfto Knowledgeable soccer enthusiast!

in l S66 Aif B »ms« y proved T f*at E ngl i*h el ub soccer pfayers, with int* 1 ! igent m a n&ge menu, could not only dominate European club foot kv» 1 1 bui could lake

on. and baar trie resi of Ihe world at International Ij>vaI Could you do the sa me in

Tap« 1 (Qualifiers)

+ Tape 2 (Finals)

t 20 Page Booklet

£9.95

MEXICO '86

A WORLD CUP MANAGEMENT SIMULATION

Tapel (Qualifiers}

• Tape 2 (Finals)

+ 20 Page Booklet

£9,95

Summer 1 984. and English inlemsiional football >s *t its lowest abb. Wa have lailodio quality lor th# European Neiioas Cup and had a String of v*ry poor
international results. In afow months we will sat out on the '86 World Cup qualifying trail Vou have bean ctyon I he mo*.|impon*rii|Obt.f msioring English
pule In their football. You havt a match in Paris th* USSR at Wembley, and a South American lour, lo assemble a t«*m Imn luquaity. and then tobeai

the world's Best in Mexico

TAPE 1 < Qualifier^

* Curreni squad of IE players * 20 user defined players *

* friend! ies in Paris, al Wambley + South American tour. #

* AMY team formation you choose. 2 from 5 substitute?. +

* in match tactics, any no, of individual player adjustments *
+ You' qualification group full results and table.

TAPE 2 I Final*)
Chooaa * 20 man squid to take to the finals
Group of A pFffiiTu 1 6 lo dnal knockout crimp
Extra Time, PENALTY SHOOT-OUTS, where relevant.
FormaihHi ami sUci>#h infouTtaiioii on opposition.
2 from 9 substitute* (the FA lails us sc-K

ENGLAND'S GAMES: FULL PITCH, 22 MAN, 3D G RAPHICS fit SOUND EFFECTS

GOAL-SOFT comments With 5 levels of play, 1 2 depths of sophistication , emd '"fun" graphics, mis game can be enjoyed by an © v*a* old voungst#r as a

"tun" game, and by the most sophisticated as a tactic sl/stratecjy challenge of the highest order

QUAL5.0FT (aUAHANTEE: Wa will sand your paehag* by 1 at elate

Istttir post on the day wa Tecoivtr your
order with PO. cheque or ACCESS cord
authorisation. Prpprams are IN STOCK

■ lvr.n' i-m-.mwwixioj M4t*f^aipfHrHMdatii*MD.fVA because we manufacture thatn!

QUA L SOFT, Tel: 0438

Dept AA 721936

18 HazeJmere Rd. f
Stevenage, Herts SG2 8RX.

Please supply:
MEXICO '86

Amstrad

;i nihJ r.^j, dim

Name: ..
Address:

Access No, (if applicable)

64 M ARCI 1 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION *,tm t

WRECKLESS ROGER

Blahy . £1 .39 cass. joystick or keys

Royej ai b em tireless ertoug] • • . | ^

'.•■.v.ri'j aliens steal hi
Spread it dixiul the ocal piaJ

I It! .!

Howeyei . . ■ ctciees

I Of all WOU id i -. OiTTtfi.

..-. j: _■ ng borders and I
occuranee of a piece of ship
numb your nr.no :or Eve minutes bofor^ raa*
kmg itshrivel up cornpleiety

GOOD

NEWS

► It doc sn >t disable th e RESE T keys .

SECOND OPINION
: .,/: of the u ? &ndfiltmg

lis basics y ■-, B&igJ n game

wherefloger appears with his jel pack srid i
Sa!»r flying around a rectatigular box Ink;

box appear alien objects, two m a -
intomen killing Roger. He> has to blasl them
sway until thoy stop . , .

there are only ever "v,-
onee A""" i .'.

.
newscreen . . erenoewi

tWborderdeei

The alien ■ irnple movei

terns around ihe scroen and corne in ft
nicevarie . no the

ip Ins energy uriul he
loses t>n^ of his three lives all of whi
done very jerkily indeed.

► Monotonous gamepiay.

► Rotten l-ou nd

► Every screes ia the same.

ASTRO PLUMBER

Blue Ribbon £2.50 cass, keys only

It'fli f to gel a good pi un<

■ but when you've got ^

;he moon yon can
exp* ■ lea i a (hi ee y os r co lay utd an a wi ut
lor of overtime payments However, sirioe
you are ihe piumber rhe job it; merely being
Qui Of the a heart and an

eve: 1 .-., ■ in i > jama*,

The lealong pipes on the moon are con-

one petrolled by alien moru ers m
ted up by .aiders, corridors and lele
Thep;ii -fsnn rhe surface

■ti laiilmn I hieeupj

oxygen This runs out at a fan ly rapid taitr .-so
requontu ruling

■i ,. allfjurhnr ■■

,' [ling tie ; ■ I . t i I:-
will all • i tin the toss aid lite

Tttaf sail there is to the game just J
dboui lite screen dodging the- aliens and
b asi ■ mindlessly way at ihem. The arily
■ ' .-■ ib:::': a cjik'- screen s

SECOND OPINION

Sesj a f the Blot R rfcjbofl S - - .* long

ci'iaife. The gampphry offers a f<2 «
ctmsfengtv;. the graphics ar&reteonnbh
the wkoie thin<fi$p*eityjoUy

The .erf-".-: at ■• in the pipes jhnvc

. , ■ ! • ;■. :;Jj..|

. I tsei u;r.v... s i •:•■ ;n Unf rtui i
IB I be used .jn iie alien inhabitants, wbc
u'-- havet i a ted TUey taove '-j

down -he m-ni- killlrn n

b^t some tsmg your -p-

pack The laser and fiie p. •■• are both
auppiisd by fuel and this is anethei ;hj;iy that
will end the game if it runs ent Thi»*,loei ■ il
your oxygen mel or lives ^ end tlsegame

Once all rh^ i^aks on ane M;rfjpn -ire
sealed iea.: presaureofihecolctiygoeaup
ind a bonus life is awarded I lowever, if you

.<:• i . ■ i • ■- before sealing .. I the leaks
they will atl roappeai when the puiinbeT i e
turns to the ucieen If pre*? 1 1 - e reaches max
imum the game ataris j XI ovei "in . only
fasier,

The uw tcugh r -

speed a* mi be ng (tie

n i - ■ jope , . , .'.-ii r&ia parti

.■-,4i plutabe i r>ng wti

the job doue so don' l hold your hi

for someone tc iepan lie bos un 'he
space sh^nlo,

E W S

► Four very tough screens to complete

► Plenty to keep an eye on and cope with.

► Oxygen runs out too fast for my liking.

E W

► Keys only play.

► Despite d if ficulty four screensisn'ta
lot.

► Really yucky sound effect s f

GRAPHICS

43%

■:■:■:■:■:■:■:■:■:■:■:•
■'.''.''.■yy.-Avji

•..'..v.i,wj;

SQNItS

24%

GflAB FACTOR

51%
43%
48%

STAVlftG POWER

A A EATING

AMSTRAD ACT iON MARCH ] 986 65

THE REAL YOU?

Collins Sett ASK, £14 fl&cass

Are you the sort o* person thai jujjican't resist
filling iii silly questionnaires in the Sunday
colour supplements? Have yc-u got a burning
desire to know more about ihe inner yon?
Are yoti worried about any problems you've
been having lately? Do people whckeop as
king rhetorical questions in print rea£y get
on your nerves? If so then lake a look at this
programmes use $ xn^y bring to life any of
those interests and a few others coo

The program consists of a series of tests
which analyse different areas of your I ife and.
inter esis and attempt to draw conehisions
about the sort of person you are. It isn't a
home CC4BB* irt psychology but i; may give
insight into yourself or even the occasional
laugh with some of the mote lightheaded
tests. There are six main se^qns which aire
subdi vided into 1 6 sub-groups, each one de*
filing with a different aspect of your life.

The icsts load in two parts K three tests in
each, any of which can (heft be selected cr
reEeleoled Each test i& mads up of e sq rics of
questions whish have eo be answered in a
multiple choice fashion with the computer
doing ail the scoring. The answers are

SECOND OPINION

Well I'mnotsotaean® whn ever nop*
Sunday supplement quizzes. Not, lhastmm
add, because I'm a snob - 1 just can ',' be
bothered But (akingrite trouble ytith &is
program proved worth the effort It 's&lwaya
amusing. Knot to be oaken too.wriou.ijy.

picked using the joystick or keys to indicate a
box on the screen orveryoccasionaly to type
in a word or number The answers take dif-
ferent formats though - someiimes they wit I
be simple yes or no choices, rating* out of 10,
indications of how strongly you feel or a
choice between severs! different things

The tests can be performed in any order
and can be retaken if you decide lo change
some of your answers. Remember, though,
that you aren't trying so get a high score at
eve rything, just Srid out WHO you are At the
end of the tesi you re given a score and by
comparing this with the ratings and inform-
ation in the instruction booklet you can find
oat what sort of person the computer thinks
you are.

AH *ke tests are well put together and
very informative 5 rid if taken-honestfy can be
very interesting: not just in their conclusions
but by making you think about issues and
problems yon might otherwise unconscious-
!y avoid The first three sections are work,
intellect and personality.

Wark is sub-grouped ins Efccuon

and potential with the conclusions showing
whether you are basically satisfied with your
job (presuming you- we go; one) and what
prospects there are for you tn the fuwre.
These are very much aimed at the office
worker and executive thougkit isn't a gon-
er^ bareer guide of what will be a good job
tor you, more an assessment of management
potential.

* i • .

— — — — — -^— —

Inteif&et us split into shree sections', IQ,
thinker and brain The first of these tries to
discover your fO with a series of testis and
pyixies Thmfcer tries to fuia our whether you
area pragmaiiU realist, idealist and all the
other ists, m o&h e r words you r thinking style .
B rain trr&s to discover whether you are Itsfl or
right brain dominated aaid hence whe
you are artistic or scientific.

Personality examines your self-
consciousness and acceptance. The former
tries to discover you r private and public se if
consciousness, your social anxiety and gen-
era] selT-coJisoiousness. Acceptance looks at
your need for social acceptance of whether
you're happier as a lon^r Irfivelife gives
your, relationships and sex the once ovpr lo
see whether a relationship is likely rosurvive
or how .aaushed you am sexually

.Anjwfyhas three sections; stress, your
body and fear. This geis to the bottom of all
that worrying we do. whether your satisfied
with your body and whai you're afraid of.
taking tests for example The last section is
Viqw$, which has four sub groups: morals,
politics, hi-tech and snob. These attempt to
teiS you how strong your moral values are,
whai yom poUrics are, whether you're in,
touch with technology and whether you're a
snob, The iast of these is a very entertaining
section Willi plenty of funny questions and
answers

As with most lests of this nature it
shouldn't be taken too seriously but it is very
ente rtaining and does give valuable ins kjhts.
You may find it doesn't tell you anything
about yourself you didn't already know but it
nhouid make you thmk about many things and
have a good time doing it

► Six (mu split into It sections.
P- Both serious insight and eatoxtainro.ent
can be achieved.

► £ack tost 1» *«*Y thorough-
ly The qn«stf wi covar many ■nhjacts
and wilt make you think hard.

►* Loads la two section*.

► May sot tall yea anything yon don t

already know.

G6 MARCH 1 £86 AMSTRAD ACTION

WMatrtvfentrtuM ibewl JEFF M INTER s.

PSYCHEDELIA

So tinman: -h*i 1 r 90 mantt r:-:- cumb»-;o ■ - .; -i _ ■ .

¥&u6i!1oireil»jTitiii»(Hmvirii)9§*'rirklii»i L-u'sra ilea ■ ■ K^srtjf

a dp : ' I la usf ami i .■ > i ■ 11 ■-, i.mnjic Wrtrtanyitriscolajhsn-r

■v. i>"! In) n ■ ipnMftmi ftftmhfKti^rirrivprH'3 *pij*
">rKJ? FrafrUM '■->«>. n*ivtnj*i#»*c ftMftd* Marty 4om«9M¥CMESGLM

NOW AVAIL ft E!L T FOfl AWSTSAO - tS CO on lip* Irom your c ampuls r Horp ™ fllrocl iron*.

Uamasott Entertainment Software

49 Mount Pteattnt Tamer Hants ( Tel OfJSG 4413)

'3 in I club

5EiJ£;~HFij , a ao*"M»js i est .

IAfcj tittle dUTPiiaO , llliri Cli41f!!* ffa-n quil^ 75 pea-ua ua«luy.
Pull S*fWftd i.' jdvj rflsSi tQ liyy ttie Li^tln. ftuft d«ffp*t ^r .
.i:-ioi:;\h y i .,;.,., i.u.

2 I t.cksc! -iVrc-.ru.il rfj L.-i (r)« lt,-t latent fi/M t II..'"..' rr*t*<**»
ijBolil trr***, Isnpaeitsmc. ni.1t/i litters, iiiifn. ii/j(,
arivt^turt ttpo, luting*,, n«ptli tucui, fre* map* !• ■-lee,
ISFiiCIAffla.tB SlSCODlHJfi.

3SST5 at least iOfS <JYl :;bf',wfrr«. Also :Lpcr is -.-;.: I, ;:.
I'ardYiTirfl irf. tXiOkS. FAnt fr.;c duLivai'J, "p 6« dfltf ::tt.,'j,

HSOBSSSSSP' TEL:
Dill yearlj- ZS^-l^ / .iniual 61 - ; ■■ _•-.•,- " -J =

ir Bcr.d yijuF nnae 3.rui jj4i'*is for "ore Tf* = --'. os

Piccolo micro /ervice/

SIREN SOFTWARE

i. "discovery"

rue lape-lo-disc I'ans'er program Transits soma lurbo

lera BASIC loaaers to get proof a ms s unmny vvil n-

o Jl aJlera! I iL v RATE I : t! " D stcwe^y dees !

be si at-OEsH^: i of games. AA. Feb"BS.

4e4.ee4.ei2f, hi& iapec/99

2."MASTER DISC" 'NEW*

The complete fled of d sc utilities on one disc. Disc n :pl -
talo'. dojbia speed formatter sector/cfrector.'mamory edi-
tor, Basic protection remove d<sc to taos transfer - w&ny
many Tore.

J64 66A 6 12S3.sc £12.99

3.**DISKON"

Put Irxsse headerless programs onlo disc. This unquo
programs ■om;inipiilalfiprngram*-andgftnhr>"r. [•]

running !rom disc Thrs p'ocam >s rot recommended lor
the novice

On^Sd,6&d.6t30 ,Oisc-ei3.99

4,"TAPE UTILITY"

"he high speed lape copie? Copy norma , headeriess and
some lurbo- loaders al up Lo four Sinnesthei' normal spt^d
VER V GASV |g gs « -THIS P^OGRAW )S THE BEST
Af itscUb Xka.

464 or>>y. Ta[ie CaSJ9

OVERSEAS PLEASE ADD £100 FOR POSTAGE; ANO PACKING

SIREN SOFTWARE

76 BRIDGE ST

MANCHESTER M3 2 RT

TEL0617966S74

SIREN SOFTWARE

Send to : Global Software. PO Box 67, London S W11 .
Please rush me .... . copy(ies) of
Operation Caretaker The Beer Hunter
Old Scores (delete where necessary)

for my computer

I enclose a cheque; PO lor
Name

Address

■-iftaA AM5TRAD ACTION MARCH 1886 67

MINI OFFICE

We look at the suite of programs which, for under £20,
can turn your Arnold into a powerful business machine.

T/ic original Mini OiTictf has long been recognised as an astonish-
ing bargain for anyone looking for a low- cost introduction \o sei .
ous software. Now the four programs which made it up have been
substantially enhanced and two new programs have been added.
The result Mmi Office- 3, is more than ms( an if it roduet ion to seric lis
soH ware applications ti a good enough to fulfill ±-een;i: e Software
need,.-: ci m ■. -, - r - -.i small business!

l.'-'ike ihe skimpy leaflet W I "Ompanied its predei>e^

sor, Mini Cfflee 2 b packaged with a nicely-produoed fiO-page

'-.. : However, although it gives a reasonably thorough ruc-
\>.>'.:<n of each program's features there's virtually nothmg in the
way of examples tc guide a complete newcomer A pity I secause
the package ought to attract many mien people Unlike the earhe:
version 'Jbr package is now readily available on disk although
Iher 8 is no version to make use of I he o. >r t a memory on the £ 1 28. It's
disk owrifttR whe will most readily be aole to exploit 8 major
selling point- the six prog a re closely interrelated Records
setup using thedatabase can be ueedinconjuniCtionwithlhewDni-
processor or printed our on by che label-primer Artel h

gyres generated by the spreadsheet can be used by iric graphics
program. AH the programs aro presented to The user in a similar
wfiy using various melius of options These arc selected by cursor
key oi If you have one, the AMX mouse. The range of features in
each program is astonishing for a package of this cost Tbei
space for only a briei look ai each

-PROCESSOR

Ouu version contained a numb* i ■ I vory annoying bugs mainly to

do with the way text is formatted aiter inserts- We told Database

:-■- i ■ lea and apparently some last rr.mute changes have be ■. i

*■ thohslpieren

♦roiiMh* word-

(JK)LC\K5r

made to put ihem tight We hope so, because without them the
word processor isvery impressive.

Text can be entered using n 20-column, 40-column or S0-
cblumn display You can use INSERT or OVERWRITF n ode. and
AUTO-JUST J?"CATION q~ the right margin can be switched on or
off.

Moving through A document and editing it is generally fairly
simple and there are powerful ecmnands fba manipulating
BLOCKS •:-_ text They can be MOVED, coptfd DELETE!
changed to upper or lower? case characters.

Constant] y on screen is informauon showing how many words
you ve written, how long you've bean typing and how many char-
acters there's sril 1 room for documents can be up to 20K long

There's a good SEARGEaad REPLACE function and plenty of
scopi I it controlling the took of the PRINTED OUTPUT. Primer
control characters can be embedde I make

parts of the tesd italicised bold, under lined or sed You can

set up headers and footers to be : ry page ■

document and page-numbers toyourlik

The number of lines per page and chat lers per line can
foe altered, and documents can be printed using double heighi or
double width characters the processor is corn pa ii bie w ith eii
of the Amstr ad dot-matrix prime rs and with any Epaon-compa i ible
prinier

DATABASE

For many users this program w:U be every bu as useful as a:
tfterangej ; ' i I itabasesr#^ev?edeIsev/heroinmisissue

Rebords'can contain up to 20 'fields' (fe. pieces finfot ) tand
Ebos c c Ofl faming numb e rs or dates Can be used to generate fur the ;

fields by means >l simple formulae So k :■.■ m:ed

to emer the length of beetles you were • : i

I Tiiiil imeires you could just enter om ind the program

would automatically calcula *-

nty of FLEXIBT1 ;x set up the data-

base th layoude :nore records can be

held in >me and address book y

I ed to onh records However, disk

users ' ".- 1 i bigger databases because Ihe procj ram fan

break them up into a numbe: . . . ■ stored separately on

disk I j' 'i ■ a ted ,js ss you have two disk

dnv. • bout hal; i which w itai

more like '■ 00 n n.n :resse$

ive m Bognor for example If
..*© spelling c i ■■-■ 9 ol nhcnn.mon it
I ,>r Vlad* will track down that Russian

r ■■'. Vladroshl

can select any field and sort alphabetically .
Phe order cai i- ascending or

I lie
You
you're ussui

iear<
emigre whethei

Th^
numei
ending

ityallowgypu i- : degpyof the entire data
corda marked) iy aaearch routine

68 MARCH 19?

ACTlONw

id iNI Of-t^

SPREADSHEET

rtber powerful ,easy-i ■ rogram. Apart from a limit on me

rri/jM.r" spreadsheet to only about 300 calls and certain restrictions
on *.he torumulae you can enter .it's every bi ( as good as a progi it m
such as Master Gale which costs more? shan The entire Mirsj Office 3.

GKKATTNC a sptea-Jshcct is reasonably fas:, with options to
inpjeate mdividual cells '.o i-all up a formula with .i number, and
auto movemenr on the cursor w.ixh ■ tan be set :r. any direction
However thercis no facility to copyaa entire i ow, columnor bi

Irs also possible - g DELETE extra tows and

ciolumns. to have AUTOMATIC RECALCULATION en or o:: i
LOCK and unlock pajtxculai ceils, and lo alter The FORMAT of

idual rows or columns on such niters as numbet of
s .-. ; .d whet; right or left

FORMULAE at e limited to simple h rithmetk expressions tog-
ether with the ability tbtgtal a row'orcolumn and find the largest oi
smallest figure m a row or column Brackets and decimal points
unfot tunately cannot be nst ■■ I

You can also PRINT either the entire spreadsheet or some pari
ofil.

GRAPHICS

This fhtful ] ~li progiam allows you to prodU'.;^ professional

looking charts to iUushratG a set of figures. You can cither enter
figures specifically for it or load m a row or column saved from »
spreadsheet you've created

Up to iliret? different sets of each ooniaiufitg up to 20

values can be used at any one time. According to your selection
the program will then convert these mic- one of three different
: ypes of BAR CHART two different LINE GRAPHS, or two ditTe: ei I
PIE CHARTS All three data sets can be displayed ail once if you
w] shallowing you to compare data vei f easily,

You can eve~ give a name to each figure (eg months of the
year) and these will be shown on f: .-,:■ char: A title can be added
and then the whole printed out

SCALING can be done automatically and is shown on the
.-:: ...: 1 . n then be PRINTED if your printer is Epson-

compatible. Could save hours of work, this oik:-

► A demo ©HI*

g rap Km - ? pri>rj

COMMUNICATIONS

T '- is v,-. U be of intei isttopeople with mod ems o i the ee ■■■■ i ; ■ ■ ■.■: . i nt to
pass files to otbei computer owners. It assumes you own the

Amstrad RS23£ interface and basically takes ail .I-. ■ .■ r of

operating the lhing.

j use n to oet up all the protocol options used by. serial
interfaces and mtdn i transmit files Some more com-

monly used formats sue! aa m Gold a [able preset

The progj cai also set up a buffer which allows files to be
transmitted or received while you are doing other things with the
machine.

Among the other options arethefaof :iy to filter control codes,
alter the automatic line-feed a ini.;-?! up a .ocal echo

LABEL PRINTING

This .s a useh

: -on moo

abase ti al owa you tc

itrutfvfc of tilt
databts*

print cut Tecords from u>e databases label form .' s very flexible
suice yoii can define the prim layoul very precisely and a so get
the program to adjust itself to the type of label stationery you re

A typical use wouldbe a cl u h secretary who had his members '

es and addresses on the database arid wanted to do a regular

I Since the wcrd-pr ocessor can also utt database records

■ xeate a simple mail-merge facility :.- oul I even have a leitei

printed out whicnwatfauiomaJtasIIy address a toe^.;,-l rw mber.

► You get six po w ei fill programs any one of which might have
sold for the coat of the entire package.

P- The programs have similar structures - easier to get to know
than six unrelated progs.

► Reasonable manual and many enhancements make it far better
than Mini Office I, despite extra cos;

•» Superb way of introducing yourself to a wide range of serious

software.

»*■ Disk version, without question, a powerful business tool.

► Maximum ssse of tiles produced byword-processor, database
and spreadsheet fairly small.

•> Our pre-production copy contained bugs - but these may now
have been removed.

Database Software, £14.95 cass, £19.95 disk

v . AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 69

OF THE PEOPLE

Come on you lot* Just became we're nearly always right

it does n't mean you can't disagree with ut. If you'vegota

difference of opinion obowt o recent review or you |ust

want to get your views printed, get scribbling and send

the result to vs. This is jwpage, to »brow bouquets or

forickbali os you think fit. let the software producers

know what you think; let the people be heard!

Put your comments, something along the lines of the

Second Opinion boxes in our reviews, on a postcard or
the back of an envelope and send Ihem to: Voice of the
People, Amsirod Action, The Old Bam, Somerton, Some-
rset 7 A II TPS.

best feature is wmdimauon. the due to shoddy programming and

many menus you can call up at a rush job it falls well short.

*»y (iisie David Baxter, Cadukie
Simon OCoiutiell, Sidcup

BARRY MtGUIGANs

BOXING

Ac ti vis ion

AA Rating 86%

Graphics and sound are excell-
ent with some great effects. like
the camera flashes from the
crowd. left. jab right
cross ■ -knockout 1
Gerry Hughes, Cranleigh

| GYROSCOPE
Melbourne House
AA Rating 78%

A very good game indeed alter
you ve figured out how to control
your character, daphtcs are
good with some very original
backgrounds, and the sound,
generally speaking, is excellent
However, the scrolling fa awful
and it's too easy for, your gyros-
cope ;o collide with an Jihen
nasty.
Nick Chaplin. Maidenhead

Melbourne House's best game
ye! - a very polished piece of
programming indeed The
graphics a re s tunning;, the sound

well shove average and the
gam splay wry addictive .
David Baxter, Carlukie

SPELLBOUND

Mastertronic
A A Rating 90%

This, game ^s real depth The
g i apfcics a i e good and animation
is good too there is also an ex-
ceUent'Tune by Rota Hubbard,
The puzzles are vary hard yet
Logical, However probably ihe

NIGHTSHADE

Ultimate

AA Rating 85%

A refreshing change from the old

Knight Lore/Alien & formula,
while keeping the same kind of
amazing 3D graphics. The scrol
ling, given The amount ofmaiei ial
being moved around at once, is
very fas" and relatively flicker-
free. However the real plus
point about Nightshadeis the fact
that you can blast the nasties NIc
Qirly jumping here put lots ol
mind I ess killing 1
Nick Chaplin, Maidenhead

WHODARE5WJN5 2

Activislon

AA Rating 83%

One of rhe most enjoyable- games
' have played on my Amstr&d,
The graphics and animation are
excellent, (to? sound is reason-
able. However, the best things
a re the playabih ty a nd the addic-
tivcnbss. I just cauld'not stop
playing until ! had completed
it. Very HARD 1 mshort BRILL'

Simon O'Coruiell, Sidcup

WINTER SPORTS
Electric Dreams
AA Rating 48%

I couldn i pull myself away firotti
this onp. [rf?rd lummy in i; gqodl
Fighl graphically amazing. biii-
li.dniiy sounding, mega-addictive
events.

This is a brilliant game and is
in no way a massive Tip off,
PS. I lied. It's pathetic.
RDJ Connelly, Crofton

Con Id have been really greai Bui

DT'S SUPERTE5T

Ocean

A A Rating 85%

Graphically nnd musically ex-
cellent with-yood useofcolour.lt

alflO has r-omr- nice ilttle touches,
3uch as tie disappearing hands.
when you lose a life and the fire-
works in ihe award ceremony
Two annoying things no option
for keys, and only four events per
side.

RDJ Connelly, Crofton

An improvement on Decathlon A
bercer range of even's with good
graphics. The diving and ski-iny
dre especially good, with slightly
increasing difficulty levels,
Humour is added with the diver's
■Splash, the ski jumper s snow
ball Da ley's disappearing f*ice.
H Asiley, Horwich

A very colourful and enjoyable
sports game Although the events
are less varied than in Hyper-
spam, ihe graphics are better,
and the action is altogether a lol
smoother and more professional
Definitely the best sports game
on the Amstrad
Nick Chaplin, Maidenhead

70 MARCH 1 986 AM5TRAD ACTION r«r«gfa».«»«t*

No.1 HIT

4 Oi/T Of YOUR COCX PfT WINDOW
AS rOV SWOOP QQWHTOTAXe

out $om tanks

FNfMrPtANES ATTACK *■

SUOOfNL Y WfTHDtAOCY

FORCE

SKYFOX' is the most realistic awe-inspiring combat simulation you've
ever seen on vour computer, 'SKYFOX' special features include -

► AIR TO AIR & AIR TO GROUND COMBAT

► 3D SCROLLING FLIGHT SIMULATION

► J 5 SCENARIOS (from training mission to massive invasion)
►* 5 SKILL LEVELS [from cadet to ace of the base)

► AUTO PILOT FEATURE FOR LAUNCH & ENEMY SEARCHES

► ON BOARD & BASE TACTICAL-COMBAT COMPUTERS

► CONTINUOUS LASER CANNONS

► HEAT-SEEKING & GUIDED MISSILES

► JOYSTICK A KEYBOARD CONTROLS

• GET SKYFOX NOW

Available from aftgoodsoftware retailer*— if tts not there, please order it -or in caseof
ftfficufty send your crossed cheque'P.O. made out to Ariotasoft U.K. Ltd., including your own r
>i address, toAnofasoft UK, Ltd., Suite 105 1Q6, Asphaite House, Palace Street, London SW1F:

—Amstrad Cassette £9. 95

aria

HIGH PERFORMANCE f HQGRAMS

Pilgrims! Arise from your wintery sloth! Gird your loins
and brush your teeth, for it he s arrived! iced &f the RtngsH
now available for Arnold's adventurers* But is it any
good? Are there any nasty bugs crawling around inside
the mammoth struggle between the forces of good and
evil? Read on and Find out.

And read the many missives Pitg has collected form
his mail-box in the gnarled oak somewhere in the depths
of Epping Forest. Plus all the usual news, reviews and
help fa* Pilgrims in distress.

Melbourne House. £15.99 r cass

J" s here at last * The Pilg has been
hv&f combing the hair between his
ices these last few days and getting to grips
with what must be ou-z of me most long-
awaited adventures ever. Melbourne
House s Lord of ihe Rzigs
So. was it worth the Wait? Is rhis really
the mega-blaster we've ail teen waiting
for? Et certainly looks impressive, coming

[real case complete
with a co;: s tfcuvs&ijp .;•*' the -

andb M The manual isn't all

■ ashy being ara tge

folded leaaatai&uj but it does give yoi .
the info you need on p be game

Philip Mitchell who programmed 77h? i ..ock

was the driving force hetoln&ibBLordQftheRu
fHT» bis due. he always develops new techniques for sich game„
with each program being more ambitious ■: ! re

However, if3iempdngtos"aggesi thai this abitteaoiffiaore

than your average home computer can chew

He a tried to squeeze complex character interaction, a large
vocabulary, independent characters, and complex parsing tog-
ether with over 2QC locations into Arnold re also a number

ew features most important of which is the ability tc become'
any cna of the four hebbits (Frodo. Pippin, M i Sam) This

means that if you q-e: stuck or need help from another hobbit, you
can swap cfea racte rs and admmistc r h

The vocabulary s considerably larger than The He
ma about 803 words The blurb also claims that this he
largest choice c: words ever offered tn any home computer
game". Those of you who have played Wc Paradjsi

Hitchhike: 's wul doubtless (and (agree with this

minor bit of hype However there's no tioubl thai vocabulary
pr oblem - I Remain cause of frustration in (his game

No. the main cause of frustj ny fellow Piigs is the in-

credibly slow speed at which the whole thing, moves. Triers s so
muchfor the program todc that just changing a location can take 20
seconds ^cwtna: may not sound likf.
trot around foiling Biaci: Riders and exploring the count]

re going to sp end ha . n ur

the program buzzes away trvir-
keep everything m order

And rb ■::■:; another probleiri . ... afl •: 1 . nose of you who
haveplayed J^Mabferrwiil be awareoftbe & sadedHobbit-bugs
that occasionally crop up causing vo" to

life - ; . without d ttg to provide bug-

hunters v.- lay

Leisjusnakea . ;-. Eating regu-

iarlyisan imponantpartofthegama auapeyei averagehebbitisa

72 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION W** : * :« t±n

bh shaky or. i he legs unless* he stops for a slap-up meal every few
minutes. Carrying some food, you decide to give some to Sam,
who looks as if he could do with a sandwich. "You try so give the
food to Sam." replies the program. 'but Sam is too heavy"! 1
i suppose this could mean Thai young Sam is a trifle overweight, and
is therefore not aT.owed any food, but 1 doubt it

At thai point, you decide to have a drink of some of the wine in
the bottle that Sam is carrying. Say to Sam ' Give ihe boi Ue to me '" .
you type expect; mtly Sam hinds over the bottle* and your© just
about "o have a quick swig when you discover thai the boi lie has
mysteriously disappeared Sam hasn't got if. since he justgave it to
you. but you haven t got it either,* Very odd

As I said. 1 think Melbourne House have been just a bii too
ambitious with this one Take the screen dispiay for example
They've used 3 clever system where the faces of tiie hobbits are
shown ai the side of the screen {see the screen-shot) as if on the
pages of a book When they're present in your location, ihey are
on the top page otherwise they slip back through the book

This ss a nice idea, but again it fails to be really impressive in
practice. Fir^i, the screen mode used doesn't allow sufficient reso-
lution for the faces to be all that meaningful (and certainly not
attractive): second, each lime you change location you will if
you're accompanied by hobbits have to wait for their little pic-
tures to be redrawn in the appropriate part of the display. Quite
unnecessary, and rather tiresome after a while

In fact, the screen display is really a bit dubious from the
beginnmg You can see from the screenshot of the opening scene
(in (he hobbu-hole wiih Ihe famous green floor) that the graphics
are rathersimple to say the least . hi fact, the problem is worse than
thai since there ' s a lot of wasted space on the screen, and the area
available for text is consequently rather limited (and in 40 column

mede as well). As a result, the text gels screwed up out of sigh:
rattier sooner than one would like, especially in locations where
there's a lot to see.

With all the programming expertise available, you'd think
Melbourne House would have split the screen and had four colour
graphics when necessary and 30-coiumn text (with a 40 column
option for those with colour monitors though 1 find 1 can read 80
column text on mine withoul too much trouble)

When you get down to playing the game, the slow .speed
remains an irritation but there's no doubt mat the original story of
young Frodo t ra vel I ing off to dest roy the d readed Ring of Power is
: j ernendousiy gripping. Despite the delays and the bugs. I much
enjoyed playing the game and found the atmosphere both gripp-
ing and surprisingly true to ihe original, though there- are a num-
ber of very significant differences in thesicry-line

In fact, [ found the design of the plot in the game very good
indeed. Sometimes ix pays to have read the book (make sure you
call yourself 'Underhin" at the impropriate moments), but I
couldn' t help laughing when : followed Snider from the in n In the
book. Str icier leads you eventually io safety, but in ihe game he
leads you on a right merry-go-round, has a quick chat with a
talking bird, and men leads you ail the way back to the Inn (or
thereabouts) and straight into the arms of the Black Eiders '

In conclusion, therefore, there's no doubt that U?rd of //;<*
Ringsh a program wiih some serious design faults. However, it's
also a considerable challenge and since I haven t finished the
game yet 1 feel somewhat rcluctan t io pass final j udgement an i I f ' 1 1
be writing more about it next month, but in the meantime i have a
sneaky suspicion that this game has really drawn the line beyond
which cassette-based games cannot go li tries to do an awful lot.
but falls on its :ace raiher too of ten in the process, I can't help
feeling thai it will go down in history as the last mega-cassette
adventure that launched us into a world of disc-based programs

In (he meantime, if you've got the cash handy. I don't think
you'll regret buying it. If you're skim, you coukl perhaps club
together with some friends and get a copy to pass round whi-
chever you do, 1 think you "J I be witnessing Hie uud or an era in
home-computer adventures From now on, if i- 's going to be big.
i I 'a got to be oh disc.

ite*. AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 73

YOUR AMSTRAD
NEEDS HREMLIN !!

DISK

TAPE
A DISK

TAPE

T#,t$I* at Abu StrntBi Foe pw SO
(*r Svn*», Bin > Hcrra) M*f rvWmd

JolMtftf JH« ft«rt IM • iptafw
«jLlr*onSir\*ir» **» #rtfr#0 A>g &-nb*J ift£

'•'m rktur » trw Ptwtoui m-ri: in
or-!»r 1o Dgntlnu* ftd *dt«iitu«i I* imiit
f r« »ii-yki*iT f rem tn* jfwii. riunifA

TOrtyifj c-"wro&w Mtf 4bttv w lit stents'

mmc on * smwo

Xm nil goU» M wrwfting Mwt HI HI
IfWflptrtkBg WW. CUUlM ■pHH Hd

tmwtom Hiin»»iP(»weni*i*rtii
Hn« on 4* bi RcwtdT Whil e*n w* daT

Wn& L» ft to IT? TTwrf f W tf* ilnr kur ■
Cur H*ns - thing ca a Spnft^l
CS"V»1* [hi nwjltil ■ irpaw ir*3 tint hit
f #rrtnh apifll .

Gremlin Graphics Software Limited 1985. Alpha House, 10 Carver Street. Sheffield Si 4FS. Tel: (0742) 753423

I'i

RUNESTONE

Fii:ebird,£7.95cass

This is .i real humdinger, this one is fl has it s history way back in

the daik ages of computer adventures when jt was first proposed
I ■: Games Workshop Much water (some of it rather muddy) has
passed under the? bridge smce then, atid now Firebird have
brought it out on the Amsirad us one of their 'Hot' Releases.

! he game concerns the struggles of Three main characters.
Morval the War not, Eliador the Elf; and Creymarel the Wi:
agamst the evil Kord . o iheirhonieiarid. isimder const-

arir attack from I! ■■■ o swoop down from Ehe North to pillage

and conquer on Kordormrs behalf.

Ai I he begmning of the game, the situation is heavily weighted
against Mor vn I and h is companions . All they {and you) know is that
somehow you must recover the mystical Runestone and use ii to
destroy .<ordoi:.;

This game has strong similarities to Lords of Midnight. You
can control three ch;i raeters and ihe display shews the country-
side immediately adjacent to the character concerned You can
move around by first facing your eharactei In oneof me four main
compass directions and then typing MOVE or. GO (or just Ml

However, the similarities to Midmghi are rather deceptive
Although there are plot parallels zs well, the two programs are
really quite different, fomsstoneis a more ambitious program to
many respects - it accepts complex inputs such as 'Say to Eliadpi

.- Morval the shield" 01 Fight Nog Fur-

thermore the program t uns in real-time manipulating the other
characters and engineering your destruction wmls you si I «nd
gaze at the sere :

Ci-r.fy flh? Dl* ligu'B In 1h* 'up rtyhtbnnd

comer wan"f Imltet* to ilfcfc hS? Knispue out (f

And the screen is woll worm gazing M The display is nothing
short of excellent -considerably better than Midmg!)tArx\ be
fully diaw;i iscape scrolls very smoothly <md shows great

detail There s also a picture cf your character at the top o: the
screen who bllnl sand n imaces very realistically eve -y few
onds ] u si tg remand youths 1 I i anyoari

Although you know roughly what's g ling'on when yon star',
the game Run&stGtt8 leaves you very much to your own .. •

In Loi Is i ■■ fWiffe/grirthe playei haat I Idea of his objectives

and how (in theory, ai least) to achieve them. However, in ffurn ■•
stOBethingfi are r 1 1 ' isi c\ear ana you have to do a lot of discover-
ing to find out what will beat serve your cause Foi example, you
1 1 stumble aexoea ; stall v, i .r. you know •:. ft om ih< blurh )
is extremely important in the game, How and when to use ii

however. Is up to you to discover In this respect, Kunestoui
much more hke a traditional adventure lhati Lords vf Midnight,
which was in essence more ofa wax-game.

The program comes with a very attractive but not exactly
ii stalled map just enough to get you going in the right dii i iction
without giving too much away, There's a so a booklet (beautifully
produced) that gives you aomc background info and, of course,
instructions on how to play the game: Special features include a
dump to primer command . The only slight annoyance is thai (again
tike Midnight you can't restai i the game if -you get killed without
reloading

Actually playing Jto?esifO«eis a joy, The display isparticularly
impressive, with an attractively re-de^igned character set cha?
scrolls very swiftly up and away each time you change location
The vocabulary isn't in fad very large, und (like Midnight) rhere
are a large number of empty locations, but the parser is very
intelligent and you won't find ycurseirhavingtoomany cemmunic*
ationprobleji:^

There a a tremendous sense of humour in the game. If, for
example, y ou enter a corrjr.ar.d thai the pr ogram d ccsn 't recogn-
ise, then rhe figure at the top of the screen will frown and ;;i i f.-k his
tongue out Trying to do thewa ong thing will frequently receive a
witty response While controlling Morval. f attempted to Climb
the. ' ree '...'Morval is getting despera i el the p: ugr um replied with
dryhumcui.

My only realc ii asm ofJ?tmevfflraneis that you can only move
in four directions, This involves a lot c u n necessary moving about
in order to gee your character into a particular location and I ear. I
imagine that it would have been too difScuk to include Norlh-East,
South -West and so on As i: is, if you get stuck in a cul-de-sac or
are negotiating a number of different obstacles a: o:ice you find
yourself having to go first one way and then the other lo make
progress Since there's a sense of urgency in the game, with
Ano'fl bleeping every few seconds to remind you that rane is
passing, 3u$s;owing of the pace is rather frustrating

Run&stone is a very ambitious p; eg ram Let's hope Firebird
bring out seme more games like this- F, ml Jacobs* speaking fo.
company said that he was currently looking at 'a very significant
adventure-related project'. Keep your fingers crossed.

AL-STRAD

Khinosoft , £2 , SO cass

ThePtig regularly receives adventures written by readers,
and : to be able to squeeze this 01 nee it's con-

sid<_- . ; ihan the average effort anci well worth lh« i'Z GO

The game was written by Paul Gill (who calls hi,t operation
Rhinosoft) and concerns the struggles of APStrad to rescue Sally
Soi: m I ho Evil Sink Despite a terinun ;iir of childishness

about the choice of names, this game is in fact veiy nicely |
together and often amusing. J' i.- rcoly-veiled rai-

ioes to well known figures and companiea In the computer
industry, including a rathej unkind stab at Kevin Toms oi Ad li
tiveSoftwarft, who you find in mc form of a wax-work in his under-
ground offices next to the Maaterchronic Room,

Although It's text-only, Paul has gone to a lot i ■: ml lehi re,
redesigning hia own character set and using wi , tows fot loc-
ations and input. The vocabulai y is small by modern stajidards,
bu itioie enough locations to keep you busy and the puzzles are
logical and sometimes extrui sky.

There are some obvious influences from other adventure
prog rams I fka Scott Adams. Paul advises you thai *1 can't, ye:
you try to something at ihe wrong tune or witii insufficient re-
sources., There's also a classic maze, called (appropriately) The
Forest of Deja-Vu, and the location descriptions are amusing,
original well-written and with not a spelling mistake- to be seen!
Myonly real quibble is that tm i rogr< m was obviously not written
will: • 1 : ■ i ■: ■■■ :'-n users in mind, since '.:>■■ iho eofo lourcorfl-
binationsisiii[iiuu ; ::;:iMi at allsuitable

Anyone with £2. 50 to spare could dc worse thnn order a copy
from Paul, Hte addi e$s is 1 9 A 8 n tdgate Avenue , Cheadla Ghesh*
ire, SK83AO, JUStradte a gocd example of 1 ow o simple, home-
brewed game can still give a Pilgrim a challenge ai.d kerrj; him
amused m hestt uggles to find Sink's Lair ., .

sur*' AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 75

Atmosphere

Interaction

challenge AA Rating

LORD OF THE RINGS

84%

86%

79% 85%

RUNESTONE

70%

80%

75% 80%

AL-STRAD

68%

49%

58% 68%

Red Hot Top Ten!

All you eager PEIgrims have been Inundating the Anns trad A-ctlon offke
with your votes for this, month's Readers Top Terr Adventure-s -noisurpris
1 110* reolly, since there's a free game each month for me liKky adventurer
whole vole Is { i rs r ou t of the ho t!

H hoi to be admitted thai Hie results of the voting came qs some
surprise to the Pi Eg. Somehow I thought we'd seem more of the traditional
gomes in the list — Cotossal Adventure, for example {which got only one
mention), but In retrospect il woi truly heartening lo lee Never-Ending
StQry la he first place. 1 l"s e ncitTng to see o I rue u p- lo- d ate ad ven lure from
a company not mg<h known for adventuring get such a resounding vote of
confidence, let's hope Ocean take note and bring out so me more titles!

The other entries were rather mors predictable, though I was sur-
prised at the popularity of Forest at f/is World's End From Interceptor,
which the Pllg found to be a bit of a walk-over when he played It,
completing the entire game in 50 minutes. However, it was one of the
earlier releases on the Amstrod ond most therefore figure In quite o few
collections.

Lord of (he drugs didn't make it Into the chord, but then it ho&onty just

appeared In the shops, so in facU'm surprised that it got ony votes at all -
six to he precise. It woi however the one gome thof most readers wanted
to have If they were lucky enough to win a free game. Nor surprising, since
It costs fifteen quid!

Here, then, is this month's line-up, Gel your voles in NOW for next
month, qnd yov too could wolk owoy wjfh your most- wanted game'

This month's lucky Pilgrim

Martin Dallimw of Wpioasterwaa Krai out of the hat ih is month, and
walks off with a mini copy of Lord of the Rings from Melbourne
hb . ■■ lid jing by the nurnber ai people who wanted rhia game, it
could turn up m ahigh position in the charts but only youi v-
cancleoide I tee the form to get YOUtt vote in as soon as possible,
Martin's favourite game was RedMoon which he found 'di i ■
ultlCsoive,< I] I a good use oUnagik LootaUki igik's

worked for you Mai tin, and 1 hope you enjoy Lord of The Rings
me a line and lei me know how you get on with it.

Never Ending Story

2 For est at the W«Ws End

3 Red Moon

4 Worm in Paradise

5 Wlarsport

6 Emerald Isle

7 TheHobbit

8 Ringol Darkness

9 Return to Eden

10 Snowball

Ocean
Interceptor

Level*

Level 9
Gargoyle

Level 9
Melbourne House

Wintersoft

Level 9

To The Pilgrim.

My fovouriie rtn«* edv&ntures are:

I. Came

2. Cirri*.* _

3. Carrie l.

Company:.
Company:,
Company;..

My reasons for pu'.ting game

nufrib^j one above as first choice
am.

U I'm ,i kicky Pilgrim ar.d win a
i : : i >V . I shouid like to rece

we a copy of.

My address us (BLOCK CAPITALS
ONLY):

I
I
I
I

They're in the bag!

lint t tes have been flooding in for
our fruocom and GAG com pe-
nnons. The results of both com-
petitions will be announced in the
May issue, so if you haven't gol
your entry m yet. DON'T DELAY!
Till in those forme (back issues
available from Amsirad Action if
you can 't go! ho Id of thorn at you r
newsagent) and you could turn
your friends green with envy an
you spend your evenings glue-..:]
to Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy, or using yout bt<iiid new
disc-drive. Or, if you've the luck
of I he devil , doi ng both at once?!

Jj** "L*

** *■

This month's star topic seems to

be the Filg's review of Genesis
and Incentive's Graphics A
ft/re Creator. Some of you wanted
more details on the packages
Ihifl I could fit into the space
available, bui it was the review of
Gen&sts that provoked the most
. comment The Pi Jg apologises for
The brevity of the reviews itiret-
rospeci I tliink I ■ should have
spread them over two issues, but
since the product* were getting a
lot Of publicity at tl i a tune [ wanted
to give you some info as quickly
as possible

1 do, however, stick very
Strongly to the opinions I expres-
sed in the: reviews, and time plus
greater ^familiarity with the
opimone has noi altered my
views, Mr Keneally of Camel Mi
pros wrote me a very long letter
complaining that 1 hadn't looked

ny enough at Genesistodoit
justice Unfortunately, I can't, re-
ally accept his viewpoint, since J
spent two days battling with his
program and my slow progress
with it was due more to the incom-
prehensibility of the manual than
my lack of ded icatien .

However, Camel have rec-
ently issued an upgraded ver-
:siffln of the-progr&rn which has im-
proved the graphics handling
and offers a multi-command par-
ser plus 'pixel positioning of
usei -defined ■ ■ charactere' . If
ihey've also improved the
manual then atj&SC it sounds like
reasonable value - existing users
can get an upgrade for ££'.00 . And
if you do change ' the manual,
Camel , send me a copy

I'm afraid to say, however,
that other readers- shared my
misgivings about Genesis, in-
cluding the honourable Sw*-;:
'{yea, that IS his name?) who
writes;." You did not mention the .
ridiculous way movement is
handled by Genesis As a^
example, take a room with 4 exits :
Instead of specifying the location • •
td move the player to you can
tmlyseta flag to indicate thai the
:. player: can move In that d ir ection .
You mys?; then have an action to
though all possible exits,
fu^i the c^ related to the cur rent
room, sstd ^hen msve the playet
■to the new- loc&noitv This must be

done tor ALL exits you creatr; sti
other words, if you have 50 "loc-
ations and each has 4 exits then
you will need nearly 200 com-
mand tines to cover aUmovement
within the game.'"

Next into the posthag was
Gerommo [ones {boy. do these
Pilgnmshave strange names! >,
with a useful bp for Gremlins
owners who have disc-dnv
thought I would tell you how ;o
put <Srena"ifljon iodise, The short
:o use ts exactly the
same as ihecne used to put Robin
of Sherwood on disc except lhat
the first six numbers in she data:
statement should be changed to.
7 1. 83, 69/7, 76,78, Gremlins will
be put onto diac and use* 42K o*
space

The prog ram in truesrion can
be found in. the December testis
of Amstrad Acti on on the Pilgrim ■
pages, Geronimo also gives
some uaeM tips on Snowball
Emer&ldlslfy and Erik (he Viking-
which l have included in this
month's One Pot.

Tim Gurney of the Sriow-
dottia National Park Mote! is very
cross with me for not answering
his letters . ' Tve wj itten to you six
times up to now and ait E wan! into
help other lost adventurers and I
am getting bored trymg so get a
response". I'm sorry. Tim. but
sometimes the Pilg gets a bit
snowed under with mail, and
although I do my utmost best to
mention as many people as po-
ssible, someone has to get
missed out. YouVe made it this
time, and your address is in "he
Lords of Adventure column.

Finally, there's a very long
letter from Mr Aheara of Anerley
Hill, London SE19, of which the
following is an extract. I-ve
pointed it because I think it may
provoke some interesting re-
sponses, Read it, Pilgrims, digest
■t, and then drop me a line with
your thoughts: "I refer to youi.
quotation by Margaret Austin of
Level 9 Computing saying that
wholesalers and retailers won'r
stock text-only games I have
gfrong views on this ,

What is the point at having
good aimospheric prose if it is in
competition.: with; pictures. infi-
nitely inferior to 9i& mind's eye?

t r MiifflMfrl if r ■ <u t s>

If one muat have graphics then
they should be of the kind that will
not hold up the action and dist ract
the imagination: otherwise there
should be a 'graphics -off func-
tion wish negligible toss of : text
screen space Memory devoted
I \ h e screens shou Id not be at the
expense of the

plQi,inieractJvenftss ot the
player s facilities

If graphics were so nece-
ssary then all adventures would ;
be like Knight Lore whereas the
current crop of text/graphic* ad-
ventures are tike nothing at 41
and are: notwithstanding the
modem technology, creaking si-
tent movies on a very small
screen. In commercial practise, a
graphics adventure cannot be a
text adventure: the greater the
pursuit of' graphics thVleas: the
incentive for ie*i'- soon there will

be nothing but interactive laser-
disc telly .and . steam text-
adventuring will be dead , ■

I trunk Level 9 is making a
grea; mistake in pining the pic-
ture show their strength does
not. at present, lie in graphics.
Someone must make the decision
to break away from the general
trend and go for the interactive
novel or play. While making this
choice may not make them rich, it
will - with the competition elbow-
ing each other off the other path -
keep them in business. If dwrri-
burion is a problem then mail
order, backed up by advertising,
their repu,ta?ign, good reviews,
and support by journalists should
suffice."

I think Mr Aheam may havf> a
point W3*at do you think? Drop *
me a liae and let me know.

vmmm* *

Clue Sniffing With fhe Pilgrim

Kagame's really getting up yournostrils. then don T despair -help
is at hand. This month's tips come frc-m the Notorious Gerontmo
Jones (well, he must be notorious with a name like that) and from
Anthony Williams, who wants to know if he was the first parson to
complete The Never-Ending Story. Sorry,. Anthony, there were
others there before you, but you're the first person to send in tips
on the game, so here goes..

NEVER ENDING STOR Y

Give the rats something to eat, but keep your distance

Say PLEASE if you want to finish the game!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but make sure you only eat

it when you really need it.

ERIK THE VIKING

If you want the cat then weigh something silver in front of the
guards
-' You will find Al Kwasarmi hiding in a strong wooden box

EMERALD I$hE

if you've got the idol, do the curator a favour and return ii to he

rightful place

Don't be afraid of the dark -you have to be brave if you're going to

get anywhere in this game

SNOWBALL

Trouble with lasers? Reflect upon the situation

THEHOBBIT

To get a high score, make sure you return objects to where they

came from

Trouble with the pale bulbous eyes on your Tetum? Don't be in

such a hurry.,,

ZORK

Yellow button opens your way, brown button closes water's way .

Hang on to the garlic

II you don't build a sandcastle, thenar least try digging around.

THE LORDS OF ADVENTURE

Grovel before the Lords of Adventure!! These brave adventurers
have naked their lives to bring back from the brink of darkness
and disaster hints and tips that could save your lives! So. if you*re
stuck in a game, drop them a line (NOT forgetting to include an
S A E ) and they will do their best to answe r your cry .

All gausses

Tony TicadweU. 17 Headley Way, Headington, Oxford, QX30LR.

Tel. 086B 6^637.

s of Kara, fores: at Worlds Bod, Duo Oar&ch
Simon Marshall. 23 Springfield; Way. Stockton Lane. York.
NYorks. YO30HN. Teh (York) 424O0S.

All level 9 gomes, All Interceptor games, Jiot::: of Sherwood

'seer; ■

Peter Brown. S7 Ropers Avenue, Chingford, London, E4 9EG

•alsofBabylon, Forest at Worfd'sEnd. Hen esofKarn '

■'■.■■•■ .4 ■-„ -r, ;...;., j | | ', j , | fa r ; Hcbt-it. Never Ending Stoiy, Sed

Moon

Tim Gumey.Snowdoma National Park Motel. Ty'nyMaes, Bethes-

da. Gwynedd. LL57 3LX.

what about you?1 Have you finished a game recently
andwouldyn k s to diet helptoethera?Ifyouwould,droprrvoa
im ■ flying your name and address and the games you'ar c::>?] nw
ne.p an. Everlasting feme and fortune will come your way, n:>i ■<
mention the chance of making friends with people far and wide. If
I ALLY keen, you can include a phone number, but
DON'T do so without first checking with other members of your
house ■ i You in. iv -hv ■ ■ iru ii venture re tond to

keep strange hours' And ;f you're phoning one of the illustrious

ds, do T" 1 ' 8» ■ !"■■ • your calls to sociable hours bctv.--
6 3Gpmand i 0.00pm is generally the best time fot most people

Bugs! Bugs!! Bugs!!!

Thoro have been several cries
for kelp this month from Filgrim3
battling bravely in Ths Hobhit
and Lord of the Rings. "Try this
one. says Mark White of Cork.
"When you have the rope and
sword from the trolls cave, go to
Rivendell, When Elrond givee
you soma lunch, type 'Give all to
Thoiin' , When Thorin has accep-
ted them, type 'Say io Thorin
'Give all to me". Thorin carries a
lot mere than you would expect,
including the dragon! ' '

Roy Phillips of Skelmerg-
dale, who also had [rouble with
The Hobbil, now finds himself in
trouble with Lend of the Rings. Hia
problems arc:

- going east through the
hedge / tunnel from cottage . It you
do not light match you will get on

the screen ' You try to go east but
7" and the game freezes.

if you become one of the charac-
ters inside the fissure and fry to
look 1 , the number 7 appears
again and the game is frozen.

if you type ui 'Score* as instruc-
ted in the booklet, the program
responds with '1 don't know the
word'Scora".

Ah well, keep up the good
work, bug-hunters, and lei nre
know what you come up with.
Paula Byrne of Melbourne House
says they're producing a hint
sheet which will guide unlucky
Pilgrims through any difficulties
they may encounter in Lord of the
Rings (including the more com-
mon bugs). "There arc always
bugs in Philip Mitchell's games,,"'
she says, "because they're so
big,"

ADVENTURE NEWS

Kentiflo

strikes out

After some rather undignified
wrangling between Micromega
and Arnsuad. fluj latter have
decided lo r&feaae th* graphics
adventure KenUila after all- This
game was quite a hit on the Spec-
trum when it first came out,
featuring some very a:tractive
graphics and some rather un-
usual characters in the story,
-which concerns the fabulous
sword KenhUa. Ml yours for
£&.95.

Amstr&d are also bringing
out Muidsk - a text adventure
written by Locc^ohve Software,
whe- wrote the operating Arnold
system. Unfortunately Amstrad
weren't particularly interested ji
discussing the subject over the
p hone Set's hop© it arouses ou r
interest more than it does theirs!

Matstertronk

Magic

The masters of cheapo games are
bringing yon Master of Magic for
2-99. a dungeons -and-dragons
type game which has already at-
tracted good reviews on other
machines You should be able to
see Zzzzz-. soon, a graphics and
text adventure with music that
has you fas' asleep and I tying
hard to wake up for ihe princely
sumofll 99. The Pftg has already
seen Zzsz... on the Commodore
and warns yo-y not to expect loo
mi i ch , but then for £ 1 ,99 you can 'X
be loo choosy can you 7

Inf ocom Delays

The Pitg was unable !o bring you
follow-up reviews of the rest of
the infoccrn range as promised
last month because Softsel are
still having difficulty formatting
them for the 6 1 36 and 464 . A mint-
ber of CPC owners seem to have
got hold of the PCW8SSS36 ver-

-.$, which wilt not run on their
machines without patching, if
you've got the wrong game, gel
in touch withSoftsei and you may
bo able io exchange it

Meanwhile, the maslers far
the 464 and 6128 versions are

ing duplicated as I write this,
so I he long awaited Tnloccm
classics should be fully available
by the time the mag hia the
atref?!i

And more delays

Yes Mtaistertrom Mosaic/level 9
isstill a wasi-.ng release 'No com-
ment' said a spokesman from
Mosaic in a tone of voice ihat
spoke volumes Keep your fin-
gers crossed otherwise we may
never ser

Interceptor's long-awaited
Earthquake is still in the pipeline
as well Expect to see it in March,
You may also heat news in March
from Adventure International
about ihe next Questprobe
ptogjam. featuring *e fantastic
Fourartda much- vaunted enhan-
ced vocabulary and parsing
system.

Call the Pilgrim!

The Pilgrim can be eonl-acted t/o
A m lira d Ac Hon, The O Id Bom,
S*merton r Somerset, TA1 1 7PS-. If you
have a modem, then you con get me on
Mlcrcmel/Prestel^my moll box
number is 919994854. You tan also'
contact me on Telecom Gold ot
a3=JNL251.

The filfi doet his best K> keep up
with corr*ipendont*, but I'm o'roSd
(hot I connot aniwer Individual plwi
for help - If you're stvck In e gome
lh«fi chock out tin- Lordi of AoVan tore
column, where there is bound \o be o
brave Pi| jfrim who can render more
Plmely a»r5tqnce thon i. I'm always

interested to hear f com readers on any
sufoiecl lo do wvitli adventures and will
include your lellers lr <h« co(ymn_
whenever space permils. j^~

78 MARCH 1 985 AMSTRAD ACTION aaMriSn ■

STEVEN SPIELBERG Presents

■A

a ROBERT ZEMECKIS film

THE COMPUTER PROGRAM FRO

Available on Spectrum 48K Plus, Commodore 64
and Amstrad from Electric Dreams Software
31 Carlton Crescent Southampton, Hampshire
SOI 2EW Tel: (0703) 229694

SOFTWARE

The section where your tips, pokes and

devious game-busting ploys are relayed

to the nation

The great Cheat Mode compe-
tition has come to an end and the
three lacky winners of £100 each
are Dean Adam of Cardiff for his
Nonterraqueoiss map. tips and
pokes, Hick Chaplin from

Maidenhead for
the first Dun
Dm sen solution
we received, and
Tim Gilbert of Whitby

iDi his AiiiWolf and
Covenanr pokes. It was
tough deciding but .^ jnam
criteria in all three winners ca*es
were the quaiity and originality
of the submissions - not just the
quantity^

From now on there will be
regular rewards every month.
the three best conTribuhons to

these pages will receive £10
each This month's lucky rccipi
cms are Paul Robson for his
Chimera map and solution. O
Cunningham for his Fruity Frank
laps and Joseph Winchester for
his Cauldron and Defend or Die
poke*

US*

O Cunningham hem Living-slon hot
«nt in c rip on the Kurna game that
will allow you to get virtually in-
finite scores. If youVe got the rime!
To set the cheat up takes time and
patience but once achieved it payi
big dividends.

What you're looking For is a
screen where there ii a fruit on the
left hand tide of the screen with
three deoroble squares beneath
it. Three apple* then hove to be
piled up on top of a square of
earth, one column to the right. Then
run over the hole from which the
monsters appear to, releote the
bonus monster before mo king a run
f or the p i I e of a p p les.

Running under the pile will
leave you in on enclosed oreg with
the fruit a bove and th re* app les on
the right. By moving up to the sec-
ond square From the bottom of the
screen you can now fire the boll you
carry through the gap between the
top apple and the fruit. You con sit
and shoot monsters In complete
safety and omosi a giant score,
although ft may take o white. The
technique works like o chorm- we
jui I wonder how on earth OC
thought of it.

.1 i j iVi j ..i.; u.ij.'ji.-.- .-,...-. .i '■■•■'■■ ■'■

80 MARCH 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION..,:^-:, ■-,:. J1 .. J .,n-

/ Kung Fu ^

/ & M

/ Number One

There's been a massive demand
for transferring the two cover
cassette games to disk and for
pokes for them as welJ. 'Fori» :
nafeJy our readers have come up
with the goods as usual - ater: '-
you good to us ! Were printing;
two routines for transfer ring the
games to disk, the Kung Fu one
being simpler than the one thai
appeared in the tetters page iasi
month There are also infinite
lives pokes for both games, ail qI
which come to you shanks to Peter
Feathersione in Leeds: Thanks to
Steven Dunn of G6akham. Keith
Payne of Rsmsgate and IS Phil-
lips of Treherbert for their ex-
cellent eilorts as well .

We'll do Kung. Fu first : Ail
disk users have to do » place a
blank disk in the drive: place the
rewound tape in the recorder
and run the program

10 MODE 1

20 j TAPE-MEMORY 4&B9: LOAD

"LOADERS"

30POEE350n.201

40 CALL 38000

SQPO1E310I 1,203: POtE

31012, 121: POKE 31013.83

80[DBC

7CSAVE

' 'EUNGTU' \B»S000.30000,3 1000

SO PRIPfT " Trajiafer compieted; "

For infinite lives, Using method
one, tape users should use the

5) Killer Gorillc

Pokes for both games on l he ex-
ccllnni compilation tape from
Micro Powei have been sent in
nnd ,jlt: hey are rent

ably similar ihey originate :rom
Klaus Honmng Sorenseii in De-
nmark and K MuCaughey in
Northern Ireland respectively
Both pokes aro for infinite lives
and an? entered using method
one. Explanations fc :jiosi

psychic *imilariiy of ;!;e two will
be gratefully receive

Gaunter

10 MODE!

30 MEMORY &3FTF

30 WINDOW 8,33. 18,20

40 INK 0.0: BORDER 0: INK 2,6;

!NK3 t 2fJ

50 PRINT "Gauntlet is loading":

PRINT: PRINT "Please wail ..."

6G LOAD "'SCREEN"

70CALL&9000

60 OPEN OUT "D^MEMORY

&FFP CLOSEOUT

90 LOAD *T\A 1000

lOOMODElrPRtNT

TABtn^-CHEAT."

1 10 INPUT -Infinite lives

(y/n)?".aS

above program with line 60 de-
leted and lines 60 and 70 re-
placed by:

60 POKE 18934,0
70 CALL 31000

Disk users can get infinite lives
by resetting the machine after
transfer and Typing m and
ENTER) ng this line.

MEMORY 4988: LOAD
■'KUNGFIT : POKE 18&24,0:
CALL 31000

The procedure for transferring
Number On* is the same- Just
place a blank disk in the drive,
the rewound cassette in the re
corder and type in and ran The
program

10 MODE I

20 | TAPE: MEMORY 4999:

LOAD "LOADER*! 1"

30 POKE 36600.201
40 CALL 49000
50 I DSC

60 SAVE

' NUMBER ]" 3.990,31080.28971

70PRJNT "Transfer completed"

For infinite liyps. using method 1 .
tape users should use the above
listing with line 70 deleted and

lines SO and SO' replaced by:

SO POKE 30037 fit POKE 30319^
60 CALL 29977

X in line SGshouid be replaced by
a number representing She num-
ber of crystals to be collected on
each ievel

Disk users ran get the same
effect by resetting :ha machine
after transfer and typing in and
ENTERmg the following

MEMORY 4999;

LOAD "NUMBER 1'*: POKE

30087.0: POKE 3031 9 t i: CALL

29977

Where X should again be re-
placed by the number of crystals
you want to collect a t e ach stage

We ve also picked the winners
for the best playing lips and
pokes on the six Amsoft titles that
appeared in issue two. Each will
receive £100 of Amsoft software
well worth having these days,

The winners ar e , David Dry-
sdale of Redcar. Anthony Collins
of Brornford Gerry Hughes of
Cranletgh. MA Tyson and Pf
While of Sh ef field, Tim Walsha of
Harpsden and Brian Johnson of
Metheringham. Well done all.
hupe you enjoy the prises.

i amtanaMMNMMWH I OWSSftMH
Brian Bloodaxe

Another infinite lives poke from K
McCjughcy DfGtti Northern
Ireland, again entered by
method 1.

1 OPENOUT "DUMMY "

20 MEMORY 499

30 CLOSEOUT

40 LOAD 'EAXE4' , ) S00

SO PEN 1

60POK£&6BB4,0

70CALL&6O70

120 ir

UPPERS(MIDSfA$.l,l)) "y"

THEN POKE &49S1 T ELSE INPUT

"Number of ships (Max

B9)?" H A:POKE&3BED,

INTfAfl0)*16 (A/10-

INT(;A/10)>*]0

130 INPUT '■Number of bombs

(Max 99)?", A: FOKE&JBrZ.

1NT(A/1C)*L6 i (A/10-

INT(Ari0))+I0

140 INPUT "Number of men (64

or less)?". A: IF A<64THEN

POKE&3C40.A: ELSE GOTO 210

150 PRINT "Have fun and press a

key.": CALL &BB 18

160 CALL &1D6A

®sm7M ~& '///,

.-.

10 MODE 1

30MEMORY43FTF

30 WINDO W 3.33, 13,20

40 INK 0.0:BORDER 0: INK

2,6:LNK3.26

50 PR INT'Killer Cor i ilia is

loading ■ PRINT: PRINT "Please

wait. "

60LOAD"!SCREEN"

70 CALL&3200: MEMORY 4 1FFF
90LOAD-IGAME"
30 POKE 17429,0
100 CALL 44100

Poke methods

nxplsin trow to input the majority
o\ tl-e $&fc$$ using *.vm types of
method

Method 1 : Type in the hSJmg,
Rewind the game rape. Ty p« RUN
followed by pressing en ier Fol-
kjwonficreenprotni
gdrri

Method 2 The ape
hetkder/toader/title screen, com-
prising usually of one or two doM
blocks has !o be skipped. Rewind
'hegdint? tape Type in CAT fofc
low ed by enter and play the tape .
Watch th« screen and a me&aaga
welcome up

Found FILENAME block'

where FILENAME will he re-
i by 1 he name of trw 1 loading
section The ne:<? meiffiagu tfcat
appears witl ixs :he mam
program appearing in thi? same
style,

■■■ -Aiad MAl^TuM-; r>:ock 1 OK
Sib i/AiisiFiLE will bedif-
rerenf for each game Note the
point on Uie tape sovntei at •-■
this second h& appears Stop the
tape and rewind to just before
that point. Type m the program
rind HUN it. Th^n px$t& play on

:pe'decfe.

AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH ISSG81

SIN

ffl=

-=3J

CO UJ

'"•>

5-,

*&£;

Combat Lynx

If previous month's dps haven't
been enough to help you with the

MsiMlW

Peterborough to increase the wffi&wffiMi&'YSs.
,.,_ j_<.i .. .1. . » RBSKGOsOin

from 2045 kga to 4095 legs . It ' S en- yffffitf&s'
tered using method 1 . JSSswKSSSe^

v.Ysj/s1fty.4>%
vsysyx&vVjCOs

• ' y.v.- . -j-.'.'Ss.'j

i o mode 1 '■vxft&ffivfr

30 MEMORY S630 'y >'''' Y. YyW^

30 LOAD "MAIN"

40 POKE 277*0,288: POKE

27741 , 18: POKE ElSl t 255: POKE

27911 , 15: POKE 28300, S3: POKE

28301,48: POKE 28302,8?: POKE

28303,83

60 CALL 33138

Alternatively you can follow the
tips sen! in by Man] it Singh Biant
who reckons he can improve on
what's been advised before-

Load up two air to air mis-
siles and as many mines as po-
ssible use AA missiles lo clear
area if needed. Then switch to
mines Go north releasing mines
(avoid the base) then repeal this
lor the other seven compass
directions to form a protective
Held around the base.

By now base 2 may be under
attacic - leave it and concentrate
on base 3. With 3 AA missiles and
Z mutes go to base 3. land the
helicopter gently on the ground
to cool if you overheat Lay mines

'.'.■' ! • * ■

' : : :*;*'*v : y.^y^^yy"-^.

to the north and ens t un Til you run
out as this is where the enemy
often attack horn'. When the
mines are used, pick up passen-
gers and ferry them to base 1 (to
improve efficiency) before re-
turning to base 3 with more mines
to lay around it

On other levels you can try to
defend more bases in this man-
ner depending on how efficient

you are. If Jsaae 3 is destroyed
concentrate on building up base
l's defences by laying the
minefield further and further out
All the enemy will now be head-
ing for base 1 and raids can be
made on incoming vehicles.

This is done by approaching
the enemy at high speed, flying
over and quickly coming back up

behind them and when directly
above them dropping a load of
mines. This should destroy the
vehicle and leave some mines for
later enemies to run into,

If reinforcements arrive
don t go after them since they will
be far off and you won't be able to
carry many weapons there to at-
tack them. Instead find out which

Cauldron

This ;■ el imjoaepi Winches-

■ i :' Cambridge J.ves infinite
lives on *he bewitcfaifi -■ game

■ 1 1 n -■- an d i r. enta t eid 1 1 r in q

nrii. -i . ■ i: i •.■■•■!. ■ u .-.i i be
Erfitbktci -■: tl ana called

CAUl .■!•: f ILO

10FORP^-&40TOUS

20 RE AD AS : A =■ A XOR V AL( AS !

'SO NEXT

40 IP A* lOTHENPRINT'Error

in data statement, please check

if':STOP

SO RESTORE

60 FOR P w &2OG0 TO &303D

7GREADAS;POKE

P 1 VAM ,, «" * AS)

80 NEXT

&0CALL&2000

10021.00,20.11,40,00,

06,40^,80,03,40,00,

6.4,C53E,S2.tUlO h

ai,&E,0,CD 1 Al J BC 1 3A,

A4,0,CB.7F.£Q,5,E6.3,. ■

CD,EJC [ SA.&E,0,ED b SB,

AO,0.3E,4C.CD,A1 T BC,

Cl.l0 h D9,3E ) 0,32.4D,DA,

C3.0.C8

Defend or die

Joseph WinchosteralsogaveuBa
poko for infinite lives ani «?uar"
bombs oti tfeifi dhoCt*em*tlp
rather than 99 lives which we've
printed before It's entered using
method 1

10 MEMORY &3FFF
30 l-OAD 'DEFEND OR DIE'
30 INPUT" Infinite lives
Cy/n)?",a$:[Fa*=- "Y'THEN
POKE &eOE8.0:POICE A60£9,0
40 INPUT' ' Infinite smart bombs
(yfn)?" " ,a$:IF at = ' y " THEN
POKE &5E07,0 POKE&SE0a r
30CALL&402S

84 MARCH 1986 AMSTRAD ACTION" R^nrDwBadgn'a

.'.:. update - c- Ins - month: \ .

only need nine oL

«sd from JB Palmer cr

id vis it the cities in the order

Kavnn? clarifying 'lots places ;o

prh::

visil and what to irade there. Yo^

RF^' :

Cash

1 :', .r;\

Chronogr«r.

CAIRO

Scarab

ATHENS

AGRA(nol,I>

.let

WYORK

Stocks and bonds

TOKYO

Pearls

35mm camera

SAN FRANCISCO

Beatles album

WEST INDIES^ »Ciry)

Jade

direction they're coming from
and lay a stretch of mmes across
(heir path.

In general ihe heaviest
forces attack between tjje north
lo south-east directions so. con-
centrate the mines there Stick to
these general tactics and good
scores should be possible (with a
little practice of course)

BRUCE

al people i . written a g
let us know abcu: some c beaison
HE Go'sfi.<5 omnia, game The
qenerdl one is that where
hiow There is a doorway to be
you can walk Bruce
right up in it. lie - hey

s you oar. lake some nice
abort cuts Things i i • even
easier by getting i

To do this you jus< r.iiv
to ';.
i gamp, when picking up
ihe 'wo nrcliw (one on top of the
other) that give .m exm
Corapletui-! ganvn shotild

■.Teen
■ ■
dots while try ag : ■;-- :■'. u

Lee

Poke problems

There hpve been o rtvmb^r of pro-
blems and queries this month, most
oF Hiem to do with the Jet Set Willy
poke printed in the Christmas issue
Unfortunately we didn't state that
phis wets only for the original
Amstrad version of J5W ond not
the version on the They Sold a Mil-
lion compilation tape. This was a
shortened version of the game
which was the same size as the JS VV
t el&osc-d on other computers.

A* yet we haven't received
ony pokes for fhof version of tho
g$mc bul os soon os wo do they'll
be printed becayse (here's obvi*
ously a lot of demand for (hem. So if
you've been getting the dreaded
line "Memory full in 60'" when you
try the poke— you've got the wrong

version ond will have la wgit Nil
somebody crocks ft,

Th& problem wos mode worse for
us by the discovery that Ihe poke
we printed Included crucial ma-
chine code routines- which appear
to have been lifted directly from a
similar program printed in
Amsfrad Computer User.

Our apologies goto ACU and
to ihe people who produced that
original program.

HYPERSPORTS

Tho woiglriihmg event in Hyper-
sports rW " been censing
people a lo! of trouble . ft apprxirs
tiiat it is ac Unely tuned, needing
incredibly Us- waggling and

stamina as 10 he impossible, As

- . ..e:= seems no sohiiion -
problem, bul If anyone can come
up with 3 poke or other cheat lo
get round tho problem we'd be
delighted to print il

Boulder dash

That man Tim Gilbert from
Whitby has been a? it again ajjd
produced anciher original
very useful poke this nme ,i\*
finite lives for She classic Boulder
dash Ere input using method one
and just as a bonus we ' re repr mi ■

I0MODE1

20 MEMORY 29999

30 FORT 30000 TO 30024

40 READ AS POKE

T.VAL("4 M 'AS)

SO NEXT T

GO PRINT 'PUT BOUUJERD ASH

IN RECORDER AND PRESS

PLAY''

70 CALL 30000

80 DATA 2 1,00,03, 11,35,

J0.3E.87,CD,A1,SC.2!.80 1

IB. 36 ,00, 23, 36,00,23, 3€,

00,C3,53 r lF

10 PEN IS

20 BORDER 14

30 MODE

40QPENOUT "D": MEMORY

&3E7:CLOSEOUT

50 FOR X 0TO15:READA:lNK

XANEXT

eOLOAD-iPROC*

70 BORDER 4

80 MODE

30 PAPERS

100 POKE &7B33.0; POKE

4 ?B34 , 0: POKE &7B3S,0

110 CALL &S8AB

120 DATA

14,86,0. 23, 17,22,15,6,3^4,23.2, 15,

26,13,0

ir:g Tint's gofce for. Aixwotfthai
appeared in issue 2. This allows
ydutG explore the wb*^e phtyipg
. u although you can't complete
the game using it Dan "f go o fJ "lie
"tegaT' screens or die gi*me will
crash completely. This isdlso en

[ererfuair^ method arm but thi i

isno on-sc;e&n p:c,'r:: press
play jus) have ■:> ' ar. ■ ■ ; . wound

and press play srtei rpnnitKj ;he

WHO*,*

vnp&tusmK* AMSTRAD ACTIOM MARCH 1986 85

On June 21, 1948, a group of distinguished scientists witnessed the birth of the
world's first stored program computer, pictured here. Built mainly out of war surplus
thermionic valves, it proved to be far too large for the room in which it was to be
housed and so overflowed into the corridor. It ujqs known as the Manchester Mark 1.

NOW- nearly 30 years later- the city which saw the birth of
the computing revolution is about to host an event dedicated
to a range of machine no bigger than typewriters and costing
only a fraction of the price, yet infinitely more powerful than
their giant grandaddy.For this is to be the . . . ptoc-r

NORTHERN

The first two Amstrad Computer
Shows played to packed houses
in London. Now the event comes
to Manchester, and with even
more to offer . . .

• New hardware and software
products galore.

• Special offers from all the
leading companies.

• Free helpful advice from
the Amstrad experts.

If you own an Amstrad - or are
just thinking about buying one
- this is the show you cannot
afford to miss!

ifOMPUTEl

\U_JQLJ

Organised by

New Century Hall,
New Century House,
Corporation Street,
Manchester M60 4ES

Saturday, March 22-1 Oam to 6pm
Sunday, March 23 - 10am to 5pm

Avoid the

^ ■

queues!

Get your ticket
in advance and

SAVE£1
AHEAD!

■j Advance ticket order

Q Aduh &ck«s at £2 1 ww EH... £

1 Ui*ferl£atkJun*«t£l(uN*£lt £

Total £

] Cheque enclosed made payable no
Database Publications Lid,

J Please debit my credit card account :

A«*» U-, i i , i i~*

N*tw Century Halt Mane heater
March 22-23

Post to: Awitiiirf Shun liekel*.

Europa House, 68 Chester Road,
Hazel Grtme, Stockport SKI SJVY.

Name ...
Address

I III ■ I

Vsa

J l j i ■

Admission at door:

£3 (adult*). £2 (under I6si

, Signed ., .„..

PHONE ORDERS; RING SHOW HOTLINE: 061-42* 7931 1

ss quote enetfi? card iumo#r and fu\l address + Re). AA 3

Enter the

We check out Amstrad's new bargain printer

Firs* impressions of the DMP 2000 are similar to lasting im-
pressions 7 favourable. It's cased in the same dark grey plastic as
Amstrad's computers and has a sloping from with timed perspex
lid. Overall result; a sleek modern appearance,

Before you can stan using it you must put on the plug , insertthe
printer ribbon and plug in the supplied Centronics cabte winch
links the pi i met to ihe back of your computer. This gives you time
lo wonder why it's called the DMP 2000- maybe it's supposed lo be
2000 rimes as good as Ihe DMP 1 which it replaces. That wouldn't be
hard.

Experienced printer users may be puzzled when they try to
feed some paper into ihe back of the machine it wont go That's
because the designers of the machine twigged that ii would in-
volve much less stretching if you could j list feed it in from 1 he front
and i hat s what you do Envelopes will go as well as paper
because they don't get bent round a roller, Mind you, you still have
to crane your neck to see thai the top of the paper/envelope has
been fed through far enough.

How it compare*

The DMT 3000 ta currency Ihe

cheapest printer around Co pack
so Etuuvy faaiuTOu and cntttuily
} Spr. Monti » bafgftifi ■ \fawmr k
y<Su,r budget will itistch c iillle
ttitttwi th*re *ro fsv«r&t etii«
printers to consid.ii which could
offer beiier pnAK-ui.taaiet speed
itnd highei reliability ajar DMP
2000 showed 10ms ikqnd rjf p<m i
workman ship , including a badly'
•dju*tetf prottOond wtvicti
cHuinid prist wi tlio. Soft oi (ho
parfjn id come od! (oci Jighr.

The EPSON LTC-Sfl hta tha.

BpKHl n:i~ii' tr„ u hi;:ihly v.. I

aw bo btj uy hi (or J *(( o vor £BO0

choctt pul rhfc small ixi* In thin
mag 11 offers many similar fea-
Turer.. fautyoVil tiivu to pay extra
iai ■ tractor 'rinva la taod D&m.
uiucmi <!a tianery

The KKtNWA CPA-SO coals
about" t30O and w (t*wi than ilm
DMP 3000. It's bane type-face is
also. Ifi ouf View, murii pleasing.
but it liwfta iho 'N«m li*itei Qu-
Alily' option and is saiti to tin leux
iff tmtol* than a,-. Epton.

Ollwr el'iaap pruihrt s (o tttn-
*ldw*K.(3ioCAHON SffiJOA{dot-
iuairix> Jiisd rfclf? OA1SY STKP £000
(a dai*y«vhee) - ttiu-ch. higher
prini quality, bill las* flwdbiiiiy

BJTUl dpOOt).)-

The printer has a built-in "tracior feed 1 ' which means you can
if you wish use continous printer paper with holes in the sides and
avoid having to keep inserting new sheets H also has legs which
lift it above the desk -top allowing you to place a pile of continuous
stationery underneath

Your first printout will reveal one big plus over the DMP 1 -
true descenders In other words, the bottoms of p's and q's and the
like fall below the line not on it This is ihe first essential to giving a
raasonabltMooking printout.

The DMP 2D00 is a dot-toad r ix printer which means the letters
ate produced by a set of tiny pins in the print-head which stamp
against a ribbon in various combinations to produce the shapes
required, The advantage of this is that the printer is capable of
numerous differ en i type-styles The disadvantage is that the
overall quality is not as high as say an electric type-writer.

However there is a playoff between speed and quality , If you
don't mind the printer taking its time you can gel it lo give a fairly

m
IS a

good quality printout - they call it 'near letter quality' which means
you can use it for priminq letters if you're a journalist, but not if
you're a solicitor. A check on the AA test-bench timed it at an
average IS characters per second in (his mode or about two
minutes for an A 4 page.

If this is too slow for you, you might have to aetile fo r the dr afi -
quality mode which we timed at 56 characters per second The
machine's tech spec actually claims over lOOcps but this makes no
allowance for the lime taken to feed Hie paper after each line. The
flexibility of the machine is greatly aided by the provision of 1 8 DIP
swiiches which allow you lo control the state of the printer when it
is first switched on - eight international character sets are avail-
able togelher wilh options lo set art automatic skip over perfor-
ations in continuous stationery or alter the default typeface. On
older dot-matrix printers you used to have to open the casing to
access these switches, but the DMP 2000 has them readily avail-
able through a gap in the back , a great advantage ,

The manual loo is good, especially compared to the Double
Dutch (or Double Japanese) served up by some manufacturers,
However, non-technical users will still find that the easiest way of
getting the most out of the machine is to use a good word-
processor with it this should give facilities for switching type-
faces automatically.

VERDICT

The arrival of Ihe DMP 2000 is great news. At a price many people
can afford (£139.95) it offers an impressive combination of fea-
tures: acceptable print quality, plenty of flexibility, pleasing de-
Sign and ease of use-
Certainly by spending another £90 you can get apiintei that 1 a
faster and produces better printout. But for the money the 2000 s
almost as good a bargain as the Amstrad computers themselves.

lis .inn of rtiplyp*.
itylai ovollabl*. Tha

tnla iiuirilinr nf
Combination! ii ewar

100.

1 1 1 1 1

i b the si and&rd , dr

a i t - qu <a 1 i t y t y p

e-face. F*S"t but crude

■

■Hits

is emphasized . Slower but balder.

111! S

is tlie Mini ' type-fiaCS.

Here

s proportional spacing- Ihe space around

the thinner letters

has shrunk.

This

is described as \N<=

sar Letter Quali

ty'

. Depends who you*

writ i

to.

This

combines Near Letter

Quality with Proportional Spacing.

this is

condensed. Vou cai squeeze lots ]

ntG no space at ail.

I U «

.1. :i . I< g* tJ «_> <_jl fcj 1

€=? wi dth

i=>

v- - ± m ±i ± i-i <3| -

He? e

s taijtfaf '/ italics*

41 J i. he att>i/e

lac

e s are Also avai La

ble

itaL

i cised .

And

Finally underlining.

^..... t.hut nubacr ipt

■ >t , i

> v r r T > i,a <• ■ • ( , ■ -
1 or-j .

>• ',- r-

1|,|L ■

pr*™™. AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 966 87

AMSTRAD
DRUMKIT

This month's collection of your programs includes a su-
perb drum-kit synthesizer plus several mini-listings you
can enter in just a few minutes. They're ail compatible
with the 464, 664 and 61 28.

We're extremely impressed by this type-in from Devonian JOHN
KENE ALLY which turns your machine into a surprisingly sophisti-
cated rhythm unit. It's a doddle to use, allowing you to create
three-part rhythms using a wide range of simulated peicussion
sounds: bass drum, wood block, cowbell, guiro, cymbal, snare-
dmm, high-hat and four tom-toms.

On screen you can switch between three large grids, each
representing one of the Amstrad's three sound channels. Each of
the 48 vertical lines in the grid marks a different 'beat' in the 48-
beat sequence the program produces, You simply use the ar-
rowed cursor keys to spinet which sound (if any} is to be played on
each beat- the up/ down cursor keys select different sounds, while
the left/right keys move you onto different beats.

All three channels play simultaneously all the tune the
program is running, so you can instantly hear the effect of any
changes you make. A good idea is to use one channel to establish a
solid background rhythm, say by playing the bass drum every
other beat, Then the other two channels cap. be used to add the
frills. To show yern what can be done, a sophisticated rhythm track
starts playing as soon as the program is run.

Pressing other keys allows you to make the rhythm play faster
or slower (F or S). And, most importantly, you can alao save your
completed masterpieces onto tape or disk or load in rhythms
saved earlier, So you could build up a library of rhythms ranging
from rock and roll tothechacha. So get tap-tap-typing...

20 rem Copy"* ht J- K * nva11 /
-M MO0E 2IGOSUB Zl^OSUH 640

40 EVEPV I**™ eOSUB ™*

M a «=- -.LOCATE 35, 3, PRINT B

V 2U» ■».-.=" «"*■ oB ~' F " THEN GOS

».»:■£ f THEN 003UB B3a:C oTO «,

\ 1 " \l ZZ-V THEN SOSUB 8«.:60TC 6.

16* iUiryth-Cix.ich-t w#ll ^«i

1M i , = ix*H-243 J *(i^47»-U-242)

190 &OTO 60

200 REM

21. RE* initial i»« S v itoi^lil»*i«»vfl

220 EEFIHT i:»l« i rylh- (47,31 ,

1)jie ,tui.,n^'n».M-.*«n'

230 RESTORE 240

240 DATA 0, l,ff, 15, Wood Block

250 DATA 18,3,3, 13jGuirO

260 DATA Sfl.l.BjBtCoKbell

270 DATA 0*4,0, 2, Hi Hut

200 DATA 150,6,4, l,Cy»ba I

290 DATA 200,3, 1,13, Snare

300 DATA 480»1,2,10,TdM 4

310 DATA 375,1,2, 15, Ton 3

320 OAT A 325, 1,2,6, To- 2

330 DATA 240, 1,2, 3, Tow 1

340 DATA 870,3, 1,31, Baaa Drum

350 FOR i=l TO 11

360 READ itoneii) . i*nvlil,l*ii<tii»i>«»i»U»,m

«* ( i 1

370 NEXT 1

380 FOR 1-0 TO 47JREAD i rythm 1 1 , 0> * NEXT

390 DATA 10,10,6,6,11,0,11,0,3,0,6,5,11,0,11,4
400 DATA 10,10,6,6,11,0,11,0,5,0,6,5,11,0,11.4
410 DATA 10,10,6,6,11,0,11,0,5,0.6,5,11,0,11,4

420 irythml3«i>=l: lryth-f 16, 11-2: Jryth»t34 t 1 ) =

3: irythn(36, 1>=3

430 iryth«t0 p l>=3:FOR 1=44 TO 471 Iryth- ( i , 1 >=3

:next

440 lryth«t2,2)-l:irytti-(19,2) = l! lrytha (20,2J =
1

450 ilim*-6: ichin*0:is<=0
460 f rid = «

470 ENT 1,1,-100,1,5,25,3
480 ENT -2,1,-75,1.4,25,3
490 ENT -3,1,4,2,1,-8,2,1,4,2
500 ENT -4,4,4,1,4,-4,1
510 EMU 1,1,15,2,5,-3,4
520 ENV 2,1,15,1,15,-1,2

530 ENV 3,1,15,1,4,-2,2,7,-1,4

540 ENV 4,7,2,1,14,-1,4

558 ENV 5, 1,15, 1,13,-1, B

560 ENV 6,2,7,1,1,0,20,14,-1,10

570 LOCATE 13, 19: PRINT'S, F = SlOH/Favt. C = Ch

Afmel. L-Load- U=sav«*

500 LOCATE 23,21:PR1NT STRING** 21 , 143)

590 LOCATE 23,25:PR1NT STRING**?! , 143)

600 FOR 1=1 TO 31 LOCATE 22, 21+ i : PRINT CHR*<143

li TAB I 441 ,CHR* 1143): NEXT 1

610 LOCATE 26,23:P»INT-AMSTRAD DRUNK IT'

620 RETURN

630 REN

640 REM Write frame

650 if E»iA;naB*>*<0J=*Sl lence"

660 FOR i=0 TO iirLOCATE 2 p ifs-i

670 PRINT name*<i ) ; TAB* 13) J STRING* (48, 159)

680 NEXT 1

690 FOR 1=0 TO 47:L0CATE 13+i , if s-iry th«if i , ich

an t

700 PRTNT CHR*f 143) JiMEXT i

710 PLOT 95,398-16#Jfs:DRAWR 386,0

720 DRAWR 0,194:DRAWR -386,0:DRAWR 0,-194

730 LOCATE 20, 3: PRINT "Channel Mb. 'ilchan

740 RETURN

7S0 REN

760 REN Play rythH

770 FOR izl-0 TO 2

780 iz-irythm(ind»izl>:IF lz<>0 THEN SOUND 129

tui.i toot, tn) , 1000,0, ienvUz) , lent 1 1 z ) , nojse i

i z )

790 NEXT

S00 ind=Cind+ll MOD 40: RETURN

810 IF a*="S" THEN t tn^iti«p*l ELSE ItiM"!

tiiiet (ltlM«>l>

820 EVERY iti** GQ5UB 760:RETURN

830 ieh»n=Mchan+ll NOD 3:GOSUB 640: i x=0:RETUR

840 REM

850 REM Load

860 GOSUB 970

870 CLS#l;PRINT«l," Loading,'

880 OPtNIN* Frythm*

390 FOR i=B TO 47: INPUT H9, iryth* t t ,0* . frythnf

1 , 1 i t i r y t hw ti , 2 )

900 NEXT i ICLOSEIN: EVERY itine GOSUB 760

910 CLSNlr GOSUB 640: i x=0: RETURN

920 REN Save

930 GOSUB 970: OPENOUT" 'ry thin"

940 CLSffl :PRINT«1, 'Saving. *

950 FOR i=0 TO 47: FOR i 1 =0 TO 2: PRINT »9,lrytn
\mi i,il) :NEXT 1 1 : NEXT i
J960 CLQSEOUriCLSttl: EVERY i t 1 me GOSUB 760:RETUR

970 i=REWAIN<0):WINDOW*l f 65 f 80, 10, 15
'980 PRINTKI , "Load tape, » : PRINT*! , "press a key.

990 WHILE INKEV*<>"; WEND: WHILE INXEV*=* ■ : WEND
1000 RETURN

PSYCHEDELIC PLOT

Also from John Kencally comes an admirably short, yel pleasing following:

graphics prog, which shows what certain 3D mathematical nine- z-sin(x)*£i

tions look like when they're plotted in 2D, using colour to repres- z « sm(y)/y*atn

ent the third dimension, z« sin(x*x + y*y)

After running the program as it is (and then pressing Esc to Or, if you know how to, you can try any other such function. Not

b reak out of it) you could try changing line 30 10 one of the bad for a ten line program.

10 PEN 2D FutfLtiuri plul*

20 FOR i-0 TO 13: INK i f 2#i : NEXT: GOTO 40

30 .'-5TNfABS(/*< JtABStx J ) / 101 *Z+4*x*x ) JRETURN

40 xscale=10: yscal&=10; xs>cale=0.2:

50 MODE 0:PLOT 116, 302,1 3: DRAWR 408,0: DPAWR f -204;DRAWR -408,0:DRAWR

0*204

60 ORIGIN 320,200,120,520,300,100

70 xl=-200;FOR x=-l»x5cale TO Upscale STEP 0- 02#xscale: y 1-- 100: FOR y-

-l*y5cale TO l*y&cale STEP 0.02t/&Ldlf

Q0 GOSUB 30: i^TNTf 2/zscaleI + 7: i=NAX(0 f i ) : i=MINI13, i J

90 PLOT *l,yl f iZyl-yl+2:NEXT:*l-xl+4:NEXT

100 GOTO 100

DISK MENU

This little pro grain for disk-drive owners allows you to set up a After you've saved the finished programming SAVE "DISK",

master menu for each disk which displays all the programs on it. you can use it each time you use the disk by typing RUN "DISK"
Arty individual program can then be run by simply typing its <Enter>, Could make Me a lot easier for non-computer literate
number [from ] to 9). members of the family.

To customise the listing for one of your disks, you must change Thanks lo Mike Singleton from Preston.

I line 20 to include the descriptions and file names of your disk
programs. Then alter the '8' in line 30 lo match the number of
programs on the disk.

10 BORDER 0: INK 0,24: INK 1 , 1 : PEN 0: PAPER 1 : MODE 1:CLS: LOCATE 19,2:PRIN

T" GAMES"!

20 DATA Roland on the Ropes, ROLROPES. BAS, Rol and in Time»ROINTINE. BAS, L

□conot ion, LOCONOTI . BAS, Chi Her , CHILLER. BAS, Psychedel la, PSY, BAS, Fortiu 1 a

One Siraulation,FORMULAl.BAS

30 MENU*^6:DIM PROG* (MENU*)

40 RESTORE 20:FOP X=l TO MENUX:READ XSIREAD PROG* f X> : LOCATE 5, 4*X*2 I PR

INT X; ■ ■; x*; :next x

50 IN*=INKEY*: IF IN*-" THEN 50

4*0 IF UAL (IN*) < 1 OR UAL (IN*) > MENU* THEN 50
70 CLS:RUN PROG* (UAH IN*) )
RUN

GRAPHIC PATTERNS

Here's another pleasing mini- listing to demonstrate Arnolds
graphic capability, It produces a series of graphic patterns which
gradually increase in complexity. Different patterns every time

10 MODE 2

20 CLG

"30 S*-RND #5 + 1

40 T*=RND #5*1

50 ORIGIN 320,200

\60 FOR R=0 TO 10000 STEP PI/25

70 X*=100#COS<R)

180 MOUE XX, XX

k>0 DRAW 200*COS(R/S*) ,200#SIN(R/T*> ,3

100 IF INKEY*0"* THEN 20

110 NEXT

,20 GOTO 20

you run it! When you want to see a new patte rn , j ust p re ss any key .
Our thanks, and a termer, lo 14-year-old Martin Scarland Erom
East Grinstead, Sussex.

REWARD

[f you can program why no; ;>u;
your mind to contributing ta
these pages? Major listings c^u'id
earn you anything from £50 to
£100. while each m mi-bating we
print earns the author a tenner. ,
(Roughly speaking a muihhstbg
is one that 'a no more than £0 i j rtes
long A major listing can be any
length, but it has \o very good
offering' something that will be of
major use/mte real loa majority of
Am$Trad owners.)

Please Tiote that ytmmay only
submit programs which «re 100
pei sent your original work and

which haven ' t befin submitted (or
printed) elsewhere

You should submit your
program on tape 01 di&fc, -accom- ■
panied by a print-out or neatly
written copy of the listing, ff you.
want your program returned you
must also- m<3ud(*"a suitable
stamped, self-addressed envel-
ope or jiff 7 bag

Sendualito
Typa-ina Editor
Arontrad Action

Somerset
TAUTPS

You've had to wait a long time lo find out if V™'« won "
pr iiein<inyottheeompetiton*f»mlMUBs3ft4.WBH,lne

suspense is over: here, at la*', ore 'he lifit *-

A.Hhe temps were pretty itreightforword and most
people managed correct or nearly correct entries. Soma
of you though, did hove a little trouble w.th the seventh
of the evil nasty question* from the Cauldron camp -
What animal In MaebWh whines three times in the wit-
ches' chant? We got some very odd answers for this one.
Cats. dogs, faudgerigofs - a veritable menagerie was
offered. The answer, in ease you're ever asked the ques-
tion again, is a ■hedge-pis'. OK? **w-ffl
Tho only other problem is that Beach M«hi 2is still
„ol quite ready fo* release. Soil you've wan it, please be
patienL You shouldn't have long to wail.

beach Heod B ^ W6U

lent. Lydncy. '-"V.,:. snnoo'CoU-

O Nock 53 l-g^iJ »
"^' to ^fS2Sw North W«

ru^d, Ben l**H* M - .port

Kevin Seymour i; frGaTff *rd

Brinha-n Devon •« u «apoot

Cauldron

PHY WINNER

S8SSSSS*-

1 ' J - w "KOibbD M ,; jtH>cfa|

Mostertronic

Darren Farahaw, Watford, Herts
Richard Clarke Salisbury C
Squibb Hunts Cambfi Amaibal-
jinder Bhambra Wolverkamp-
•:- Maityn Payne Sussex: Joh-
nathan Wyart Weymouth Jim
Parry. Broic DerekAkienW.it-
."?L Marten Si Herts;

) E Hyde ■■ - r Mr D Car-

ter SyeLaw

Aaron Bye re ■*...: vay
Michael Haipin -ndgWAWr.

Claire Turner
■izt MrHRUng Bridgend
M:d Glamorgan David James
Mclvor teuhzd Ker_: Stephen
Day, Croydon .Steven White Bir-
mingham; Mr R C Hawkins.
Essex; P G WortaU Ayr R E
Welsh, Lever* Fife; Mr R B
Lawier London Peter Hewiiut,
Cambridge
MP Gallagher Hereford:

Ch 4pmAr , «r J

VMJey Surrey Mr ja »u fi *

WrdffetoaM BltBraa.wk ».

BicloiiiJ ■';" WlflJ * y Ddi *7 C
wckniii Oierrgion.oilMud.:^

bray* >v-,j. jb^.i . Bl,e *

r«J/o i rt ^'WSudlqii,
^■o'J.ChrMtop^n

£«2«rwuid ^;„^ f ,, Muk

C Loved-y. AmrxJi,',. Biff f^ A

Willow Pottern.

SJLcc !:j>- .gdon. Cambs:MWald
ScuaihOf™ Adritri Carrie I; iL<c.it".
Kid: i Andrew Crawford, Tij-

erton, Itetoo; Mr P N Wood, Ngw-
bery. Seriti N P Field. Loi
„ rneiso? Tj Gentle. Hltcfeso Herts; K
F Heiwmng*. Swirdct. Will*. Da*id
Cooper. WciiveriiTLiptiii- Neil Sii*rp
Cr.c!iir. We « Man; S Thoep*. Hut
dsrsfoltl Pelei Mutphy :: i ■ln!ern , .-
Qne I teR8 Thomson Baihgaaj Evan
Welsh, jeven, Fiio; Mr R F Kesley.
MiLn^nhsaiS. Barks; David Ulhar-
land BotKKi. Greater rdamiBt
Adam Berry. Ner^'ich; Ciaig Head-
f&rd Bristttijl SKan. Mewton Abbot
South Devon; N Scott. Litfiogetone.
fel Lr/h nn: William Freeland Gal-
■ :.:: r>-ii.aa; Gary Fltagohn.

Bttd»7 Het-2 Paul SuiclJfe, Shafesa
pry. Uctsel Eosftiowiki Man»;k
$■-.-: rmrsel;

Ben Lcadbeircr. &laodford 1 Dorset: V
Hinitian . I 7 - Tir.er ^[.ddl«M«)r
Si^v* Bradwell Gredrtedbro, De-
:ur:=;t HHo».BaaioojiioJw;PMd'WUr
ion.V.'H.:l^>'fo.y

Lord of the Rings

SWaldie S-Au.i.Hi-H. JohnWiight.Se]-
.-! tn Koto Nick White. Plymouth;
Miss ] M Boutd. Shrewsbury Noelle
SohwrarK Atdiniy.WestSoBiax Mti
Lamina, HuddenrfV- JoeSmith. Wis.
.?i- :K Matthew Hisker. Will«nhall,
West Midg Mus H McEvan Bradtord
SirahBarnes Plyrr ■ ALoucasdes.
Mwjptwra, Eaut; Mr I P Perry Hste-
unwed.. West Midlandg T Br&adley
Timperley, Cheshire Martin Empion,
Birmtnaham: Mr P Whittingham
Crosby, Mereeyjs.^' P Hopkmnon.
. I .■ •iio:.MsnlriHaiirLi Bran-
more, Middlesex. M T Todd. Rsdcai
i.-its, Eric rormart, Woodier :i

on. Fjssox M Aimer. C^TnlOitl
Micola Matthfiwa Maneatoa Neil Flet-
cher. Arfirree Maic Lavrler, Loodoa;
DarrenMNnil HewotFifl Unon Ty-n-
Mark M«tt»ri iroseql Memystd^;
Davtd C^vey MiTO^TdsIlwh. Mark
Kane Wc-k. r.gnun; Jan* Cubb -'■ ■

J J Price, ffamel Hemji«Tea'J. Tom
Scutt BognorRegu

Mindshadow

bn Ridley. Lssezpoa jimeg Miller
LoTidnn. AGreenaway London, Mar-
iui Hatton Mojpedi,NorijtiumbartJod;
Brian Edmuitdls, NcrtitarcpTon, Mr
Hoberl Ken GUsgow; Nick Alien
Bridgaortts, Bhropahir^ Mariih Wal-
ker. \*vt«i Mi S Danfca. Wats* 0. Wasl
WldiarKls Ar.on Pty^cy .'i, P Wor.
rail, A ■.■ . <ja r ,-j Stephen Thomas
t-'almautr Mr J Raeim Kdinburgh Mr
L Walleer, LwerpooJ; TtmEarwaker
BaaiJijsicke David Tomlinsoii Worli-
suc,^;,-i. s Kurtjamea.Lyn.ni Cbeafe-
:i«> Chrisima Smicft f>y{ed. 5 Wa :
Miss L steel. UhreTTton, Cumbna
Angela Hackney, ^.fri'r- w j hit f Sccl-
iaw5 ; Stephen M&rretl Chichostor A J
Wilcox, Eshfft Surrey; Phi] Smtih
CTeHiJord. M:ddl$s*x. C J Bosiock
Ut>i.ron,NT MHSct-.e.'itei; Barry Du&lJ
ttew caale Upon-'TyDa Mr E T
Siwv&na Matkxk Derbyshire Mr d
aayton fcebford Ess«; Errmet
Ma«»twn S;d;iip Ks:il Richard
Ceodhead. Warringtoii Chert «
Jamie WU*on. heiifteet E*sex C A
Sharp, Sheffield; Nick Turner Hi: i
g^-orth Shropshire Alex Mousey
Cowley. A4iri<ili*sox- j t Gledhill Set
ton CokHiekl W Luaroyd, Leeds; N
Fleei lincofei; Carl Ayramgh. Vox
:- : - 5 j gn . Soufli Y or icah 1 1 1: , Paul S*aih
ai^uoithes. Mfe Charlea H M Joy-
n«W Bradford; Andrew Raehuri!
Wetwyn G*rd«a Gay, Herts- George
Reaves. iir-»dj{Mc: CoJin Mee Leeds
Mschaet Wong. Sate, Cbesfare; Rus-
ael I Waroham Pu ale. Dorse:, . J C Cal-
derbant. Rocbojter. Ken;: Paul Bres-
Sin UKii:>nderry M 1 MaHhewD;*™
Craveseod, Ktn: Robert

McGlenaghan. Kiikby, Liverpool: Mr
MHoe THi.n^oite. Kairis. Richard P
Hancock, Spndlingtoji, Hj li j ico;n,
Cord™ B niton Vaenbury Shropsri'
■- nlan H p n taa, Sttttngoournia Kent:
Michael. J H*rl BirtBinetwn; John
Buck Wrdlby, North yorMiire;
Roddy Dun]op G^gnw David Lith-
erland. Bolton. Greater Manctms^r;
Alex Slain. Sberborae, Dorset; Mr
Paul Bamed Have, Eart Sjswx Step-
han Doyla, V, ■,,..■ sjjrf,. D

Roofe Wicbeeh Cfeabs R A Evam
Br:dgf?:j:1, Mid Glamorgan; Paul Wal-
ton Tyne & Wear; 1 Stuart Bruce
Clod'c.: CumL-.a SJMoon.Ttinhnd-
geWellB, KenrBanMiddJeron, Tioga-
mouth Devon Richard Hunwm
'1il''.amoiLenjior I • :r- CoDotrQ
Me<]Shaf E -iCraig

Robmaon Moactef A*Mcb4fader-
Lyne Phil Jones. t(nnd«wottt I .
mingoam NiChoJas S Kienisch Caco-
bridge; Paul McGlmch&y, Derby;
Andrew Willis, Ratls Barton Horih-
--.:;■■ Robin Plea kmiIS Cerdifl

AMH" RAD ACTION MARCH 1 ?$$9i

These corking Hill MacGibbon games could be your only chance to win an
Olympic medal, break the world 1 500m record and take part in a gruelling
car rally. 25 pairs must be won.

RunforGoid is. just about the only good sports game you ^ Who was. the la
can play without breaking either your joystick or your ' g
arm. Or both. It's also a game of great excitement and not

a little skill. o] Steve Ovett

Ratly Driver is a mud-spattered burn-up around bj Steve Cram

some pretty dangerous country roads. Not feast at the c) Steve McQueen
hazards are those silly cows mooing around on the

2. Who was the last British man to win the Olympic

BOOm?

o) Steve Ovett

b) Steve Cram

highway.

The Questions

1 . Who was the first man to run a four minute mile?

a) Alf Tupper

b) Roger Bannister

c) Christopher Brasher

3. Which car won the 1 985 RAC/Lombard Rally?
a} Audi Quattro

b) Lancia

c) Mini Clubman

Contraption Caption

Audiogenic's beautiful platform game can be won by 50
readers of taste, discrimination and an uproarious sense of

humour

Here's anise little earnerfor 50 people. All you have to do
is write a witty - funny, amusing, etc, - caption for the
screen shot below. What's the prof saying?

Search me, but if you come up with something that
makes us laugh here in the office you could win a copy of
the entertaining platform game. And those graphics are
really very pretty indeed.

Just write the poor prof's words on a postcard or the
bach of an envelope, clearly marked Caption Comp.and
send it to us.

92 MARCH 1986 AMSTK AD ACTION cayou****

mg ** two P** * on a I** 1 '

Who

Wins

Port f

And if you dare to enter this snappy Alligata competition
you could be one of 25 winners of the ail-action shoof-
em-op Who D&ees Wins fL Rescue prisoners and blast
your way through eight enemy outposts. Take out the
copters, dodge the grenades, dive for cover in that Fox-
hole! It's stirring stuff- so stirring thai it's an A A Rave this
month.
Parti

And thai* s not all. In an act of olmost unbelievable
bounty, Alligata are offering five disc-drive owners the
chance to lay their hands on copies of their forthcoming
blockbuster Meltdown. Set on the moon, the game casts
you in the role of only surviving human, You have to get
to the crazy computer and switch it off before meltdown
melts yau down, The game will have an amazing 1°0
rooms, three major game tasks and 1 8 sub-tasks.

What is to be done

Part 1

If you warn to win a copy of Who
Dares Wing Jfl. just ca*t an ex-
perienced gamester's eye over
the list o( factors involved in
buying a new game You have (o
put them in order of importance.
25 people who gat the same
or de r as AA will win copies of the
game. Remember to put the qu-
ality you think most important at
the top of the lisr - if you think
Price js the most important tat tor
then it should be number i uit
your list.

Put your answers on a post"
card or the back of an envelope,
marked WDW1.

Part 2

If you're itching to gel a load of
Meifdown aU you must do \a
dream up an 'appropriate name-
foi a now computer language.
Because- one of > the mginy .tasks
you lac& in ihe g-ame. is to
program .* computer thai, doesn't

yet have a language, Alligata
have considered Hackspeak -
can you do better"? Please - no
more titan two or three words.

Entries on 3 postcard oj ihe*
back of an envelope, clearly
marked WDW2.

The game factors

Price

Gfflb Factor

Somes

Staying Power

Packaging

Graphics

Originality

Qffii

mwm

CO M BAT LYN X ( Air - to - g rou nd B *tt le $ imu la ti on )

irumtSk f$:3&

Commodore 64 f 8.95

BC/Eieciron CS 95

« Lynx is both amutation and shoot -em-yp games m one The 3D

created by using «*f«our hne graphics lends to give it a more

fat feel, so mora Hfcn a stnubtiar. but or Ihe other hand there are

of (Bts and enemy haUcoptefi whrang around and ground forces

ting at you which gives The game Us instant ptayabMy appeal On-ce

jet the har^j of coping wih everything, its possible to play a game of

strategy which invokes nol onry arcade sWIs but those of forward

ung For people who enjoy strategy Type games, Combat Lvn* should

de hours of fun, while fo» those who prefer something instant and

.1 • choose skitl level 4 and hang onto your hits? Generally the graphics

i most impressive, with s few attribute problems whan objects are

nil to become hidden, but these are rrvnot m what is otherwise en

legma end challenging game.*

*-r-

TURBO ES PfilT (3D Simutation Car Chase)

Spectrum 48k £8 95

Commodore 64 £8 95
Am^rad 464/$" 28 £5 95

Vou *re a special agent equipped with a Loiys Turbo tspm An mier n -
anonal ring ot drug smugglers are about to make a huge delivery of
herom. arid must be stopped at all costs. The drugs are stored at a
numb*! of houses in the etiy. and will be liken by cars to art armoured
van which will be cruising fttound the centre, A rard on the van before
completion of the delivery wou Id leave some of the drugs in drcu la : ion
Similarly .1 raid on any of the houses would a ten them to your squad's
activities you must therefore try and pick-off the cars one by one
before they make ihe>r drop. ar;d then try to stop the watt before d
escapes The delivery cars will be backed- up hy 'hn' sou-ads • so watch

(Developed with the support of Lotus Cars Lid)

1 — *f» ' !

if" ~ "'■■

■fr 1 I
J.

¥&? .,© KS

LSaaaaBafi

WE*

vR& I

CRITICAL MASS (Arcade,

Amstrad 464,6128 fa. 95

Art outlying system nf ihe Turret Federation has set up an advanced
: i n : i matter conversion plans on a caniraliy positioned asteroid to
supply the local colonists with onorg.y . A Surprise attack bv Alien forces
js iUtcfjSbfaHy overcome the asteroid's defences and th*> aliens are
5a threatening to sell dostrut ( thepowet pJant unless the colons:*
!f(?r an unconditional surrender The self dosuuf; Sort process would
fee lively turn the power plant into a massive bieck hole that would
ipe out the entire olanerary system alony with a numb*?' of nearby
**s Uncoridrirunal surrender oHeri annually hamlic prospect Your
isstnri is to infiltrate the enemy uoS'HOn and disable the am. matte?
an! tx-lore the a I tens achieve CRITICAL MASS.

UhetHz! Th«grephKsand payability of ihisaarne are superb.

I it well worth the money

SABOTEUR (Martial Arts Arcade Adventure)

Spectrum 4Sk £0 96

Amstrad4S4 6129 C8 35
Commodore 64 £8.95

You are a highly skrlied mercenary trained an the martial arts You are
employed to infiltrate * centre! security building which is disguised as a
a a rehouse. You must steal a disk thai contains the names of all true
rebel leaders before us information is sent 10 ihe outlying security
stations. You are working against the clock both in pert mg to the disk
and in making yOur escape You must *nteti*i#bu«kling from the sea by
rubber dinghy , a nd will then on ly be able to leave by the belie optei on
t he roof You wi II have to find your way a*ou nd the warehouse, making
use of the guards" own weapon supplies m your struggle through
ova r w helmi ng odds ■

"Saboteur is without a doubiorie of the best arcade game* I v#i*«n t&
a long lime and a welcome departure frqm the plethora of
licenoBd/endoised product that the industry seems tocurtentfy favout
Recommended"

D UR ELL sales dept..

Castle Lodge Castle Green, Taunton, Somerset, TAT 4A B, England

Telephone (0823) 54489 & 54029

software getting harder. . .

t/41 I =1

AU3TRAD

OUR

YieArKung Fu

Hyptrsporrt

Hatch n.iv

Hcunly Brift

Raid

Friday l*e i: j i-

Ranesad?

Wormii Paradi^p

TTie fvil Ck 1 *"

'.'■'lZJ"Ju LjLlf

&1a r oi

Sauthan Belle
EcarMHoadSlDl
Son .Tvrni
Dyi Prsupch

h I ■■ i. ii

t*pl(K!lr»g Fill
View to a Kli I
InlBrnatioii* Karate
Fvinyn-.e'SaVMry
Pin I ;i

KmgrHLore
Aherd

fighter Pilo-
ted Aff&n*
Mil :Miie:e-2
Cunlunefi

Hoct^KorrorS'HJWi'Ul
S*rtl»o1 Midway
Ju-njJei

faib in b-1 $ho r« wnt
Sfeyfeli
bouivcM.

Sups-mi*

TauOntl
Tku Ofl (DJ
V

?imnlH.j*l.
■K 1 1 1 u 1 1 i PI il-l

irnBrnitifliii Hu^oy
C^mrntRoo

iib
a X

IPS
g BS
a ts
a H
e«s
I >:-

9*5
395
H 55

1 H

Bi&
KS5
13 »
9«
895
g ?e
io.su
rj.btt
BS5
B«
B.9S
1.96

e.«

B.95

14.»

6.45

H.9S
B.M

e.«

«W

8.M
B.M
».94
9,95
U.M

4.96
B.«5
r.Wi
».95

g.bo
ceo
B W

7*5
b.BD
'_•■ BLi
4 70
7 +5
T*5
■P [ .
6.70
7 Z5

- ..'
11.30

-.- r,r.

?S)
6P9
650
! DO
4tC
'" 7< r -

- 80
650

/so

8.7S
11 ?D

n.»

7.30
754

i-i H

7 IS
7.«6
7.46
?,4S
hi
b /u
4«0

fl.m

7,44

Lor d al ths R h(]&

KdcK'ri'WresDa

Fa rl-qn

rt'nrkhn H,i':*w,iirrn ,[v-

YOHHI Gsttl* Dgo4

"!■■?<■ i\'ee>:s r. Hirafl-.se

tSal^leotlheFia-.e-s

CadeNirreijH-t

bl teiCi

El.te IDI

Clundn

fil.iiJiftlrjr!!

Whc fl'a-esWinsi

ZflMi

Sbper Sleulh

5 up? r B<dwi

FGTH

Comic Rjicrv
Pi'itj P?iiiy

Hu nr. r.bat < 3
' nealr* turoa*

A-iy AlnSKjn **yi'

99!

*» [

H.95

.' L'L-
9.95
9.95
WAS

19 95

?6i

.- H
9.9S

= ■*
999
3.49
1.9b

3.95

11 ?0

( «S

7 i5
11 M

■-5
7.iS
11 JO
U95
T.iS
,- -'.;.,

&?□
fi.qn
7?S
b.-iU
fa.*U
£..30
7 SO

fi.Tfl

QUICK SHOT II NOW ONLY Kf .90

AIL PPltCS INCLUDE ftp

Oeodbfla Dfl>r> wiiii* «i tb* moai comp«lilv»

prtMt lar HlWlPt it alLafcM* I TDU d*n I «■•

in* gin* iw rrqudn Htla0; p<«u* firm tar

*■ mnlup le dihninnfUHMnui

Cl 7J1-4W7

PLEAS6 NOTE \f VOUB OflMfl EXCEEDS f 50

YOU GET FuflTHEfi; 19% DlSCOVN'T

SENDCHEOUE^.O.TO

COODBVTE, UNITS 10 A 1 1 IMPERIAL STUDIOS
IMPERIAL ROAD, FULHAM, LONDON, SW6 2AN

AMSTRAD
PROGRAMS

THIS is na-JOKe WS ffttfty SKr »!|ing lOOsuality pfoorama all on A*t»,^ Bonanza
and an lof only C9.9S Ws^a Bonanza consists oi a iwlncassciw oaekc-onitaining
5flfl*m(iii.3ft«t]ijcatlanai.6busir«issuiiHiJOsanidl 10 misceiiatieouspfogfarns

50O*l»iSir,i:|i 4 d(. many arcade. advtnlurCS '01 6 play 9flfl:og1C gjimfiS ftllM

nc'udf Defanda. Boma-Droi>, Olctato*. Or Wotsdn. Gond PHx. Soil. Hgbtai
Hood, Tank Ganle. Tefrohs.:. Dallas. Satellite. Fuiurfl.iniflrcepior, Lunar Lancer,
Lenminio*. Mortey. TaHe-Off. Wend War 3 ana much mucn- more

3 & EDUCATIONAL PROQRA MS n M*; Us . Phys i«, C h em is-r y , & oio gy , Co fr..
putef Sfmnnn HisitnyandGMgrftphy. Ideal lorO lev* revision or as a Murs*
compiarriorv

9> HU$l MC$S U Tl LITIE$ i n 6 us I n »l G'« pn ics . V AT and Sales Prtdtetton .

10 MISCELLANEOUS PROGRAMS including ST^AD-SUQ laps maganio.
graphics domos. ca it^dar a nfl n^ch m ue h mar*.

MEOA BONANZA 1 0O PROGRAM PACKAGE IS SUITABLE FOR
AMSTRAD 464 &«4 S123 MICROS-

MEGABONANZATWIH CASSETTE PACK tfl.g 5. DISK PACKAGE

G14.95

(A I sr ces luiiy ineiusiva]

WHY SPEND E10 ON ONE PROGRAM WHEN YOU CAN
HAVE 100 FOR THE SAME PRICED

Make cheques. POs payable to RANJ AN and send lo:

RAM JAN, D£PTAA,3WENSLEyCLOSE

HAHPENDEN, HERTS, AL5 1RZ

UNLOCK YOUR

AMSTRAD 464/664/6128

SNAPSHOT

A Tapi backup uliiHY l°r finrrriai jr>ri hiad»rltRE Upe* Tape Eft, 99

Hlwl"1l !dpu utility 1Kd1 will bdCh up yuur Inpe bassd software So si mple to
use it S ch NdS piayl On SCr&ei details or proyr^m lertglh Fasy {iiish-rjijlton
suJiHjIiurilut yu-ur jPkjiCm ul SiJvliiy sutiud TIibubxI best "rrsqloa disc drive

AMSHELP

■ Tiansfn lap* sirtlrtat e Ifl diit Tap« C6 9S Disc C i 0,99

liLik-r Hu'imil-l-i AMSHELPwII L-':' tnutoi ASCII tin UBOauifltnaaca .
h d 'in a rulutatar lor lfieso program's mat overwrite Hie disc momo'y a-oa.
FREE Dist daproieclot ists proieeled programs, ok.

LOCKSMITH + •LQCHSMITH I waiJableanHOM 119.39

• Disc Li i lity tailtetifln Disc CI 0, 99

Trie most usoMnondly ulility of its type, this disc inrlurfpF tip lunctione thai our
c JStoniCf s navo ashed lot Tiie disc optians include UNE RASE. HLNAMt
WAKE INVISIBLE. MAKE VISIBLE. SET TOftEAO ONLY, SET TO READ AND
WRITE CHANGE USfcH AREAjNFOFtMATlONON FILE LOCATION AND
L LNii 1 H , HHOTJRAH OE PROTECTOR tKSC-COPY, SPEED- UP FAST
FOAM AT. e:c Tiiis iiiilicywtll even show hidden piogratii!n*'iiJdi owyouDo
back updiKcs mtn unfiorilierjaiseriors and (rocks (unlike somomiitalitms) Ail
linrir1ip-isn<-eRfl'iytf!uS* j foll0i>5creen informaliot. lull disc leclor edi'or

SLOW MOTION

•> GrESl n*W4d(l-0ri

Now lor The AmStrad . the wOr»der1ul util ily iHtfl a^Tually allows yOu to Slow dOw<i
iiiuipfifd of any game (play at any speed and rap a<i«ns|,lrv*rartily adjustable
Irorri f^ll speed tofrfte?efrair#

• Avh i table soon, lull ipse ip*em blower. Mo tddm^nal pow«i sopjly reeuiitd

Wtnt jend I oi d*1*ilt.

nVffK IAS ORDER RLASiAOOfl FlWPOSTflfif fEft50MLCAlU«5 WHCOMl

INTERLOCK SERVICES LTD

123b Brent Street, London NW4

Tel: 01-202 8727

UK's LOWEST PRINTER PRICES

FULL PRINTER SUPPORT FOR THE AMSTRAD

ORDERED TODAY DELIVERED TOMORROW

> > > KAGA-TAX AN <«

Ring for unbeatable price!

► ► ► CANON 1 080A <<<

Ex-demo: Only £125-00 ex* VA V

!-. !■'

■ DOT MATRIX EX VAT

SMINWACPA-80 EHS-OQ

EPSON LXSO ( nea r teller quality) £1 SO-00

JUKI5&HJ(col.Ojilion.NLQ| t249-00

C ANON 1 1 56 A (neaf lette r quality} £a3S-0&

INC VAT

tl 89-75

E286-3S
C385-25

■ DAISY WHEEL

DAISY STEP 2000

£22$40

£25S-75

EPSON DX1 00

£356-00

£40<M0

■ AMSTRAD ADD ONS

TASWORD TWO

£15^0

£17^5

TASI>RIMT

£7-74

£840

TASCOFY

£7-74

£fr$Q

PRlNTEf? GABLE

£1100

£12^65

■ COLOUR PRINTERS

EPSON JX-60 SPECIAL OFFER

£45CM» £517-50

NOW ONLY 3 MINUTES FROM JUNCTION 23 M62

(MANCHESTER 25 MINUTcS/LEEDS 20 MINUTES)

NB: FROM EAST USE JUNCTION 24

96MAPCH 1 986 AMSTK AD ACTION i:,:... ,<...■■ ■

156 LONGWOOD GATE. LONGWOOD

HUDDERSFIELD
Tel 0484 646048/9

' i SSfte find out what the Worgamers are

Pete Connor gets **""° ^ n'ere^ln^nj ^waje
doing with some very |^ , l^l"

Now here's a funny thing - and not many people know this - PSS
stands for Personal Software Sorvic&s. Why PSS, you might well
wonder. Ask Gary Mays, co-founder and partner in (he company,
and he ! ll look rather pained, heave a ssgh and explain that the
name 'was our first and biggest mistake', In mitigation he pleads
that 'we Letraseted our first publicity ou rselve s '. We just seemed to
have more Ps and Ss than anything else. '

Well. t::ey sesre so bare got ovei
the name. PSSfaaowsyuoBoinous
for many people with high-
qualny waigames B&ffle -
way.BatUeoFBiitain. Theatre

w. Games which give you the
besl of srraiegy without the agony
Qi spending five days OH
m-inouevres

Hu i PSS are more -han mst the
people responsible tor The War-
game* series They re about to
unleash cm the Ams:r,iri owning
public the .cng-awaited (more of
l,i wr) Swords sad Sorcery
i»ns and Drag,
inspired game ih.it reaches the
pAtlssthei games don't g-'

rind that's not v re

also the first software house to
bring over to Briia n
French software. So ,-.- .
FYsncophobes cry WeB fiuti
a load of m« garner previewed
over !hu pago wb thin* Th&y re

! ig to be real corkers with or
wiThcwt s Channel t pad tunnel

PSSbegai h Moves bei 1961
when two recent Manmpmesl
Studies graduates fi om w. 1 1 ,■■ h
Unt . Gary Mays aac

chard Cockayno walked into
W M Smith s i n Coven tv --nd not-
teed on Hie shelves a primitive
form of compute* magazine life.
In the back or this publication
were adverts (or mail-order
computer gamfis The tWOYOUl
men had the brilliant idea.

:>ugh neither of rhein at 'hat
Mne could tell a bit from a byie
They advertised 5 OI program-
mers, and withm two months had
15 programs available While
were w&itm :ay

SOid T-shirts to ease thn
ditiona. cash-flow problem, 1 ; of
Their Ih st
'beat-seller" was a utility tor
"Vi: oa -:■■ |t«oJd Is

I Let.

Bu" those were rite good old

vhen a front room wasu' t a

fiont room unless someone was

running a softwaie house from

icon, the big-

■s rnovec in. The

little man with his mail order

s couldn* i break in to the re

lull side Many companies just

gave up LL*. ghost

Uut r*ct KS. They survived
says Gary, because 'we weien l
prrKrammfirs We were more
business-oriented, and we knew
what lo do." Now P3S employs
people Ya\\ time Ihret; on
the business side and five pro
grammers There's a lot of ho!
stuff to come from them in '86

lary on games

My all-tune

favourites are Fort Apocilypsc
and Lur.ar Jeimxn - thai was re-
ally great once you got the
technique.'

1 suppose the Gargoyle stuff has
impressed me most iecemly. But
most games al the moment don't
really impresa me at ail. The
trend is very graphics-oriented.
People forget gameplay But you
can go bo far and no further with
graphics.

,«J'J<iM:WlirEBl '[ think it will re-
place the Spectrum this year as
(he most popular machine.'

OnlhePSSsel-up

J'Nobody has a
luted job. If il comes down to it.
we'll all lend a hand al anything/

people

just teams of marketing

On market segmentation.

[We've

got our own niche in the market,
and that's how we've done well.'

Gcky Mayi [lettj and Riehcrd Ceckay

The Wargames series

The idea for a series of strategy games came from FSS's senior
programmer. Alan Steele. He's a man, says Gary, 'who's been
playing war games since he was six.' He's now 36. so he ought to
know what he's doing

The first one was Battle of Midway, back in late 1964. Gary
describes it 'a bi t of an each way bet" . It seems to have paid off -u 's
sold 45.000 copies in the 15 months of its existence.

The idea for a game usually comes from Gary, A discussion
follows in which it becomes clear whether or not it is feasible to put
i ton to computer. If the idea gets the go ahead the research is done,
partly by the programmers and partly by an associate in London.

So far the Wargames series hag stimulated its fair share of
controversy witness the letters in Amstrad Action when Battle of
Britain was released Some people think the whole idea of war
games is obnoxious . others that they should not deal with recent or
contemporary events The release of Theatre Europe, which deals
with superpower rivalry and the threat of nuclear war was not
calculated to dampen public interest.

But Gary Mays is vigorous in his defence of the games: 'Some
people will always think they're distasteful' , he says, 'but person-
ally I dent understand why a TV series or a comic or a film is
acceptable when a game dealing with a conflict is not.' He then
goes on to the offfensive: 'I find the concept of a game like Rambo
much more distasteful than what we do, I think it's potentially much
more disturbing."

In fact. Gary can point to Theatre Europe as a game which

attempt to make people think a bit more', he says In the course of
the game's developement it cerlainiy made a few people at PSS
think Gary himself began as a staunch supporter of CND But now
he says. I'm not sure any more. J can see both sides of the
argument'

The next releases in the series will not pose such weighty

Oh I,..*,' AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1986 97

moral questions for moat players Bismarck, scheduled for release
ui April, will allow the player to take either the German or the
British side in the naval contest that followed the German launch o:
the super- warship. Success for the Germans means breaking out
or l he Baltic and into the North Sea, for the British, finding and then
sinking the Bismarck- hi this game, says Gary. r it will be difficult to
leJl arcade from strategy - it will take over where Bench Head left
off ■

Before that, m March, Tobruk will appear on the Amsbad. The
game takes its scenario from the North African campaign of the
Second World War Players can control either the Briiish Eighth
Army of Montgomery or Rommel's Afrika Korps. The titanic
struggle between the two g real strategists should make for some
engrossing gameplay

Swords and Sorcery

A game that's been advertised for well over a year now and which
ai time of writing, is still not quite ready on the Amstrad. The long
delay, according to Gary Mays, is because PSS 'bit off more than
we could chew' with the complex developemenl system involved
The crux of the game is the Midas system , and that's what took the
time

But PSS are 'very pleased' with the result. They ihink they've

come up wiht something completely fresh. So fresh and different.
mfact. that Richard Cockayne says that 'people haven't yet been
able Co appreciate the depth of the game '

Mike Simpson is the programmer responsible for 5 &S, Mike ' s
aDungeonmaEter, so don't mess with him But the role-playing
board game Dungeons and Dragon can't be translated to com-
puter, says Mike* because of the 'interaction with other pcoplo'.

The aim of the game, says Mike, is to 'develop your character
and have fun Developing your character doesn't necessarily
mean trying to become the nicest person in the world, although
you could do that if you wanted, Power is what it's really about:
tricking, thrashing or even befriending people as you try to
becometop dog, There a re 20 different character types to contend
with and PSS guarantee that nc two games will be the same,

When you've completed S & $ you'll be able to save your
pldyer to tape and use him in the follow-up, due to appear later this
year PSS also have add-on modules for the original game , md a
book - The Advanced Players Guide- to help you get more out of
it

When the disc version appears, it should be pretty special It
will contain the first of the modules as well a,s extra scenery and
characters But first, like everybody else. PSS have got to catch
their discs

SKY 1 ** #"■ &% WM 1 W% (fW

PSS have already released one game from the French
company Ere Inf ormatique - the very good pirtball game
Macadam Bumper. Bui the stuff they've got lined up this
year knocks spots off that, and off most English stuff too.
Amsfrad is the market leader now in France — having
deposed the poor Orie - so It really is about time they
came up with something special. We think that's just
what they've done with the three games previewed here.
PSS hope to hove the English versions available very
soon indeed.

Eden Blues

The nightmare scenario of this
graphically brilliant arcade ad-
venture doesn't give much
away. All you know is that you
wake up in prison cell 412, the
only survivor. The robots are
die new masters and the prison
is their headquarters. Why
have^ou been spared?

You revolt violently
against your circumstances,
smashing down the cell door
with a few well-aimed kicks.
Outside, die sinister robots are

The most noticeable thing about
the came initially is again the
graphics, which ore packed full of
atmosphere even though they ore
quite bare. The impression of a
futuristic prison and the sort of de-
spair an inmate would feel is well
conveyed-

The soundtrack is the oppo-
site. II won't Hi you with feor but
wiH get your feet tapping along

patrolling. Your only escape
from them is to enter another
cell.

And then, as nightfalls, you
hear a strange and plaintive
cry. It gives you a reason to live,
a reason to fight. It's the voice of
a woman...

And that's your lot - you're
on your own from there.
Strength, courage and stamina
all have to be maintained as you
dodge the nasty robots and
seek a woman and a way out.

despite your desperate situation.
Your convict character's behaviour
may also bring a smile to the face
as he walks around, beautifully
animated and at two different
paces. He kicks down doors with
vicious stabs of his foot and ?s de-
lightfully expressive when he walks
nose first into o woll or finally runs
out of energy.

The arcade adventure ele-

ment isn't as strong as in Crafton
and Xvnk ond the game becomes
more one of exploration and of
using resources efficiently to stay
alive.

There are three powers to al-
locate and contra I: strength,
courage and stamina (life, heart,
vitality or whichever translation of
ritaiife you prefer}. Strength is
used up by walking, kicking doors
and bumping into -walls, courage
by having eye to eye bottles with
robot guards and stamina by time
and robots,

Patrfck Dublondwt <r4 Cd**f Ine Vagnon,
fhc d yngmle Fundi duo respooiibk tor

The robots are the main haz-
ard in the gome and either rapidly
drain your stamina when in me
same room or kill on can tact .They
con be destroyed by eyeball lug
them with enough courage but

either woy Htey prove very
weakening. Each power can be
built up with the the right nourish-
ment but finding it is the difficult
part.

Another nice touch of the
game is me passage of time
through day and night. At night if
you're out kn the open security
robots will quickly kill you off but
shelter can be token in Cells where
o quick kip in o bonk will conserve
energy untH the Sun comes up
again.

This Is another winner as far as

we're concerned with excellent
graphics, sound and gameplay. It
looks like Eu rope i s no ranger a soft-
ware desert and has plenty of
exciting and original prospects to
offer. BW

98 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION n <** uw&em ■» jonno -cions

Crafton & Xunk

Lei's get the name oyer with
(irat: Crafton is an android,
Xunk his trusty podocephalus
(a small dog-like creature con-
stating of one foot and a head).
Their mission, as explained in
ihe witty cartoon instructions, is
[q find the room where Zarxas,
the central computer control-
ling the whole galaxy, is kept.
To do this they ha ve to disco ve r
a code composed of eight dif-
ferent numbers, Each of these
is held by a different white-
bearded professor: you have
to get the right object and give
it to the right prof to get the
pieces.

The display is a 3D vie w of
the various rooms, not unlike
some Ultimate * games. The

From what we'we seen of me French
version of the game this look J let to
be a moiiive hit — oINt lacked wc»
some music, but judging from Eden
Blues Hiat should he pretty good
loo.

The graphics are the f int stri-
king thing obout trie game with
eoch room e»r«l corridor being
viewed from the some sort of
above and diagonal angle as
Knight tore, Affoa 8 and Sweevo's
World. The design ond look of the
rooms,, though, is far -superior with
lots of different colour* in each ond
plenty of features mot con be
moved or which nip around under
their own steam. It's got the object
manipulation and freedom of ac-
tion of the Ultimo le ond Gargoyle
game* combined with the graphic
attractiveness of somerhirg like
Everyone's o Walfy.

There a-e quite o few oil-
mated characters ond all of these
seem to hove real personality in-
cluding the woolly-hoited android,
hyperactive podocephaius , scatty
professor, green moh canned punk

graphics, while not having
quite the definition of Eden
Blues, are very colourful and
very funny. Xunk rushes
around all over the place until
you call nun to heel, while the
rooms are full of robotic guards
who pester and push you
around. The nasty greaser
from the title screen of
Macadam Bumper abjo puts in
appearance - but if you can find
the magnet you can play a ve ry
nasty trick on him ,

Crafton was written by
Remi Herbulot, whose previ-
ouys effort was Macadam Bvm-
per. The game's not quite fin-
ished, but it looks as though it's
going to be a massive and very
entertaining puzzle.

ond the weird collection of blue,
metallic robot guards. Different
objects will interact with different
characters. The most important
task is the discovery of the codes
from the professors with which you
solve the gome.

It's not just the objects you con
pick iip Qftd use that are of interest

- a lot ct the furniture I* helpful,
Crafton can push or pull the furni-
ture and jump on it as well and in
this way solve puzzles as to how to
get at some abject or door. The
doors are sometimes locked and
passcards are needed to get them
to slide open.

While fo seine ted by all these
wondrous happenings you may not
notice your energy running out,
particularly when encountering
robots, punks Ond profi. You Cart
replace it at holaphonic cabins.

All in oil this looks like being
PSS's biggest game yet — we con't
woit to review the completed Engl-
ish version. The only question left Is

- what the heck is that podoceph-
alus iu p posed to do? BW

Con tamination

A different kettle of fish, this
one. It's a strategy game which
puts you in charge of the World
Health Organisation in the fight
to stop the spread of horrible
diseases.

When a disease breaks out
you can choose how to deal
wiht it from a number of op-
tions, Most drastic of these is ihe
nuclear option although

which disease would merit that
particular treatment I can't
imagine. You can seal off the

area by establishing a cordon
sarurajre, you can bum (he area
or yoo can retire to the labora-
tory and create an and- virus. If
you choose this last option an
arcade sequence will follow.

Naturally, you resources
are limited, so you have to be
careful in allocating them to
areas and diseases which need
them most. Only when the
world is tree from disease will
you have won.

Hl« Offline UT

•nvijonmofll of Ih*
pr iurfi -ei » f o ur i rafirt
<*iiplor bclQwit

NERGTE OQy.

C'rj1r.;i> ., rho g-.r, ir
nSviiliyhcitwIftihli
faithful pod' in

ofangt

SCORE G015Q0

►«•» cr o I :

The menu giving ytmr apl\oni In dealing w Hh
Ihediiecie

N* bfaruwfoitaHn AMSTR AD ACTION MARCH 1 986 99

Jtp

Hourglass

Computer

Robot

Electric
Barrier

► «l

£ '«

. 1 1- ♦p

> ^

► i

^^ •

r*?

1 Wr^ ^P^^

-—

•u

If.

WITH HELP FROM

DIMENSION GRAPHICS

3rTTy the bravest volunteer for the ultimate suinde
mission to free tost compatriots held prisoner by the
armies of death, the forces Of oppression. Only the
fearless dare take up a challenge where courage and
endurance are as essential as intelligence and skill.
Compulsive. Action packed. Step forward, modern day
hero, you'll never know how good you really are until
you we tested yourself on the ultimate mission.

Available AMSTRAD

Available at all good software dealers.

Send tor full colour product brochure
(enclose a stamp}

*mi»

Alligata Software Ltd., 1 Orange Street.
Sheffield S1 4DW. Tel: (0742) 755796 1

The hi-scare file hos been getting fatter and fatter this
month - indeed it's taken to sitting in the corner of the
office munching forms and belching out the occasional
challenge. A number of replies to challenges have been
received, causing the file acute indigestion as many
scores have had to be reinstated -the clouds of paper
spewed out by the poor wretch were not a pretty sight.

The response to the hit list of games we gave you
was excellent, so from now on there will be one regularly
lo show you the hot games where most competition is
expected. If you've got any of the following titles get
cracking with those scores: Bruce Lee, Cauldron, Daley
Thompson's Svpertest, Hypenporfs, Kung Fu, Number
One, Strangcfaop, TIL and Who Dares Wins H.

r ' Sc m

'.n^lisWlTviV

AMU

19 400 Gregory Nicholas, Ha rdwicke.
1 2 320 Flemmmg Pedetsen Denmark

Air Traffic Control
90% Kelvin Clarke. Tplford.
flfi% Dr Nigel Wheetdon MB ChB
70*« Andrew Feeley. Wfciiefield.

Ajrwolf

796 Gareth Powers, Clapton.

Alien B reak-ln

337.400 lain McKinnon. Glasgow
£92. 164 Paul Mackenzie. Lenzie
300,660 Graeme Tay lor. East Kilbride.

hots Dame Klfcinrrr.r,. Solihull.
r4shrtis Andrew Feeley White
^jshossSiepheriGray Bath

: ols Mfce Drury . Swsir

Audi oid One

17.680Ddvid Litherland. Bolton

Audi oid Two

9.720 Paul Rushtcn. Markel Drayton.

Hi- j core taw*

Unfornnwe.y r am just not
bloody minded enough to sir/
up hal \ \ he night tr ying to coax an
ex'ta giggle or zap so J don"! have
thing to offer in the way of
eostnically high scores Not do 1
know enough afanit the games tc
actually chalkiige any of toe
scores primed I cart however
offer several observation?: whicfc
you may want to consider.

First! y . are wo to assume that
alio?thehighr.coroi:repre,-ir;:.^.:
so far are achieved white playing
the highest cbflictiity level fot th»
particular game involve

000 is impressive for Harrier

::< if achieved on level four,
npresave on level one. I

•- -t v.-ou Id be well for alt &m -
ants *t un derive that the score
achieved was done oi the raiwi

tuI! .evp; or stale ai which
.. accomplished. At
least thai wav it puts the score into
perspective

Secondly, there art? many
games which a: "a high

score competition but dut

. : na tor e are either not scored
by simple numbers o' points or
people might not think to include
in high score setting 1 have two
modest aocomp! laments which
fall into both categories: Lords of
Midnight- fall of Ushgarak in 53

m\ Scrabble - score of 487
;ievel 4} There are other games
which could be included $o let's
hear from the non-zappers out
there This is our mag too 1
M Gixouud
Tadworth

Ths fdea about the difficulty
levels f heartily agree with $&
from now oft pttoplk should .-^a.'p
on what level & s-oore «w
achieved wfieo it is applicable.
For Harrier Attack and other
older games it's, rather bard to
start doing tins now but i&rtaittly
it will apply to future games.

The second paint is more
problematic VertsMy theie &
room for these other T* ttngs to bo
included hut there are rruny dif
ficulhes involved On Lords of
Midnight the Mi of Ushgarak wit
.vm the game so
how do you deade which to take.

war game or Sforkm squ'
And are other factors like m
ber of lords Alive and men
important?

Other problems include
games with both points and per-
centage monies tike Sabre W
Which do you take ss die score
siltce die two zien 't directly Htm-

nected? Where we can get round
these ditScuMea the scores will
be printed but problems mS
always remain, particularly with
arcade adventurss when people
send m a high scores&ying ' com -
pleied" which ion imuoh use. or
where there is no Gte&t measure
of success in the gams.

Battle Beyond the Stars

14,000 He tgeBorchsemua Nttte.i=ji, Norway,
7 r 4iKneTnmmgPec,ersfin, fJenmark.

Beach Head

160,650 Jonathan Stewart, Dundee.
124,000 RichaTd Ormson, Bury
122, 100 Jeremy Nargi, Hove

Blagger

54.B40Alasdaii C«nie» Dalkeith
50, 1 25 Paul Stagg. Rsckmanaworth. '
49,975 A trim Satesse Fariib-OJrough.

Boulderdash

1 1 S.695 C h rts £iu rawy, Chsppon'.
1 9 Derek .n

19Sw«»>Cuddeford, Canil

Brian Jacks Superstar Challenge

4 126 Thomas Tofield, AshfoTd
3.636 George Reaves. Bradford
3.521 David Miliar, Johnstone

Bruce Lee

V HO , y(.i(J Jeremy Bowd en Loughborough .
385.606 Halph Turner, Newport
225,500 Liw Grendan, Blackbuin.

Cauldron

15.300 DMK Wear ring. Milton Keynes.

6, 550 Jonathan Hum, Tcitenhara

Chiller

8, /00 Ian Grainger, Wingate.
1 200 Justin Leahy, Htham
6. 500 lam McK4nnon, Glasgow

Chimera

r r;:;i;n, Perth-.

1.230Cnnstophei Place, Heywood
965 FJGn flirt is, Bi:kenh>

Cliuclcie Egg

535,400 A Grintshaw, Blackburn.
418,070 Andy McCammon!, Durhngtcn
395, LB0 1 David Cflrr, Macclesfield

Eggs chucked back

m :3sue feer Stewarl Russell

made a ctaim that it wzs no-. hu~
tuansy possible to get past level
24" on Ghuckt&Egg In the same
issue I had a score of 269 400
printed for the saroe game and f
totally agreed with him as every
game I go! to :rvo! 24, lost afooui
30 L\'t-t :ided up with a

score of abou! 269.01XJ

licweVer, Icameri on trying
and, by fallowing the pflhey of
getting an egg by com mi rt m g
sutcide, managed in cless
34,?,5,?,f>and 37, endiag up witha

eof3t6380,
Mark Wagner
Pinnej:

Th:$ point of view was
overwhelmingly uph eld by other
we iters including Nicholas
Oldruu of Horsham, who gives
this advice on jetting past levels
24andB5.

The secret of level 24 is to muck
around on the ladder and pi. i?
fnrm? ;n the upper right comer
On iovol 25, move to left arid yet
egg but not seed, go up second
iaddei tsn right and hurtle left be-
tween the rwc ducks, Then ge* to
the top as fast as possible

Combat Lynx

176,850 Alan Stenson, Cattenck Garrison
I 75,300 Devid Pollard, Hs.iriinglny
1 36,760 William Jenkins, Cramlington.

read to. AWSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1 986 103

Confuzion

1 43.000 Duncan Ellis, Ilkley

1 26.775 Jason Grandin, Fenylan

SI .835 Dnnny Jarmsn, Stanstead Abbotts

Daley Thompson 's D eca thlon (One day)

l30.3eOStevenDiu.il Cockham

I 23.2 10 FJ GrinY-hs, Birkenhead.

1 1 1 ,?40 Graeme Taylor. Fas: Kilbride.

DT pause

I would like it brought 10 your at* ;

tention that -there w a pause facil- •
try in DT'x DtK&'iblbn as 'opposed
to Joanne Kingdom's' claim that
ilierft isn't.

The pause is available sn *he .
non-running events. When r 'Go"
comes onto the screen press the
joystick once to the left or right
and the game c«n be left for as
long as you like

1 am very disappointed thai
nobody -'aocused' has yet de-
fended themselves,, especially
on OT's Decathlon as very high
scores can be obtained by ii£?rttg
rhis pauae facility Wheb OiB arm
begins is ache.
FredPerlrin

Qtfws'&so WfuiekfpQin.tiagout
this ■ pause facility which does
snake lbs scores in the millions
possible, if.a Ii3i& boring io
achieve- Hoirer&r ! &?P$ <$v#ry-
body has noliced tore vs swiiO-h&d

to single nay totals lot the game
ratlier than' niiwin'g- totals for
mors than one-day

Fruit Machine

£3^.50 John Peberdy , Basingstoke.

. 70 Daniel Ukington, Solihull
£39,50 Richard Kiddle, W-febech

Fruity Frank

' CI Andy Keeble, Bromley.
25310 Andrew Sleuze, RadcLiffe.
15.60C N M;:ler Tonbndge.

Galactic Plague

70C Graham Poster ." Hull.
1D0.61C Joanne Kingdon. Yeovil
99 .960 D Woodman. London.

Gauntlet

SOI 5GG Jonathan Shaw Ltskeatd,
1 1 .660 Conrad Clun. rlcrnbui q ti
1 1 A m Paul Hyert. Cheltenham

Dark Star

Death Wake

Defend ox Die

4,340,000 Simon Sutton, Cheltenham
3,093,250 F. A [lye:: Cheltenham,
■ ■ },6§0 Jonathan Stewart, Dundee

Devil' s Crown

$4 5,780 Jeremy War gi. Hovci
42,200 GSmiLh Shefliesd

Electro Freddy

4,035 Alvrn Thompson. Hebbuin
3,4 1 Thomas Tofield. AshTc r d
2 .750 Simon Dcoley. Bohon

Er*Bert

126,860 Richard Demon. Tatquay
1 1 1 .000 Lawrence Smiih. Newport
66,950 AD Phung, Dunfermline,

Everyone's a WaUy

3 t O0O A Grimatum Bi ackbut ) -

PC Antony Gritchley. Bracknel
1 ,57CPau! Carruthers, Lytham.

Fighting Warrior
02,800 Michael Clark, Midlothian.
B7.600 Wayne Fitfon; Gloucester.
7 ft, 620 Smart Bruce, Creator,

Ghotus

7,090 PaulSlagg, Rickmans worth.
6. M0 Peter Wright. Stourpon,
5 .030 Jason Crane m Cardifl

Gilhgan'sGold

SCC.200.000 Ian Leifch. Blandford (!!!)
598. • 00 Michael Clark, Midlothian.
SIS. J 79 C Johnson Suieuii Coldfield

rand Prix

I David Vincenl . Keinbay

5 Duncan Watt, Aidershot,

) Christopher Hardy, Weymouth

Grand Prix Rally C

70.690 Fj Griffiths, Birkenhead .

5S.740S Tom) inson, Hull

54,474 Geoff Korslafce. Wuodfcam Ferrer.

Gyroscope

M, BOO Marcus Passant. Pfirton.
13,460 Bob Wade, Somerton
12.360 Roger Willow Blackburn.

Harrier Attack

770,450 GrahamRoste, Devizes
599,870 Mike Di a: y. Swintcn.
517,050 DsrreU'Iercher, Gospori

Higher harder

I, Darrei Fietcher. arrt repEyingto

Harvey Case's rhini-ehaiSenge
about Harrier A ttftck scores 0V#f
500.000. It is possSble to gpi a
score above 500,000 and I've
done it with a score of 517.050
starting from level one right up to
level five.

The way to do il is to take oil
ifrid go full speed. You slow right
dovra as you ge; to me patrol
boat. 1 can. get three hits on the
boat usually but i have managed
four. You m en speed fight up and
ignore 'the flak and gteobt Use
• planes. This is done by flying
straight ao that when the plaice
appoars and fires Us missile you
fire yours and move up. Thfi mis ■
sile- 'is guided and moves up- with
you as does, the enemy plane so
that you Mil
Darrel Fletcher
Goeport

Enough said DarreH. The scores
gob3ck

High way Encounter

[ jetfeites Chippenham.
9fp ^170 Micholas Jelferies. Chippenliani.
76 120 lim Boffin. VVokmg

Hunchback
1 SOS.tXW Michael Clark. Midlothian
1 .000.000 Kevin MoKeown Jnr . Armadai
625.000 Graeme Taylor. East Kilbride

Hunchback II

9. 000 Jason Carpenter.

Hypersports

1 1 S Ud wards, Sievenaye.

31 475 George Reaves. Bradford
60 ,016 Martin Paterson, Glasgow

Jet Boot Jack

9tj.y2Sl'lemmingPederaen. Denmark

75.525 Paul Lawson. Kmcorth

60. 1 50 Martin Ellerker. Peterborough.

Jet Set Willy

175 items Daniel Han, Longhton
134 items Paul Broad ley , Glasgow
1 25 items Ha : pal Kocner . Birmingham

Juggernaut

40 000 Cue I lenr y Drogheda.

9.500Michiif:l Spoers H Donaghade^.

Killer Gorilla

200,000 Adrian McGivem. Dorehos:o-.
170, 700 Guy Wussey. Stoke on Trent
1 53 &0Q Erie Henry , D rogheda .

Kong Strikes Back

535.600 C Johnson, Sutton Coldfield
2O4,400Pichaid Walker. Crewe.
IBS. 100 Phi! lip Cower Newport.

KungFu

64B Wayne Fition, Gloucesier.
639 Mark Prcbert. Nuneaion
610 Donald. Weir, Metlston

Laaerwarp

207 COO Michael Wilkes, Stourbridge

1 -13 B50 T Grogan, Biackburrt.
1 55 , 980 Denis Cortd ren , Filey .

Locomotion

5,338 Christoper Eng. London
3.577 Mike Drury.SwintOJl
2.558 Michael Downie. Dalston,

Manic Miner

250. 1 1 2 Way tie Learoyd. Bramley
94 ,989 Mai -:m Luise, Solihuli.
92.804 Gordon Edgar. Buckie,

Minder

£1 9,22S Mark To^si . Cauvey island
£12,666 David Gibbon, liearpark.
£B .9 50 Paul Satellite, Shaftesbury

Mr Freeze

16 240Fetei Wrlght/Stouipoii.

1 3,87p famie Thomson:; Leigh ton BuSzard .

3,310 Darren Dunbajr, Wrexham

Mutant Monty

18.150 Marcus PaseaBt. Pftrton

NS0 >\ Wagstaffe. Whitchurch
43,-ldGl Alastair Ket r , Plymc ttt

Nightshade

943. 1 ^0 Ralph Tu f ne r . Newpon

104 MARCH 1 986 AMSTRAD ACTION E«=4if« «»^y

534.0QOBob Wade. Somerton

Number One

.teme Taylor. I is! Kilbitde

On the Run

74, n o Daniel Smgennan , Southampton

'■n Patrick MeCorry. Belfast
50 .000 Ranjit Singh, Queen r. Park,

Pinball Wis***

3 1 775 Roger WtLson. Blackburn
29.560 Paul Smith, Haddeiahe:
25.445 Smart Russel] . East Ki for ide

Punchy

1,132,32C M-irkijaiUrSairi

235,990 Alan Jackson Wolverhampton

70 1 30 Richard Den?™ Torquay

Raid

1 ,l 1 7,200 A.anSfenaon. Catterick.
676.550 Kevin McCrmcrhey. Bangor,
562.500 Colir. Hard le T'.mcr;t

Red Arrows

65 4165 Glendenmng Darhngtrm

62 400SiewartHackley.Poynion.

Rock Raid

32,7*0 Stephen Gray, Bath

Roland Ahoy!

6,273 Peter Btaaon Leyland
0,262 Alas wit Budd. Lincoln.
5,l4flM.iTkRldkemore, Liverpool

I Roland in the Caves

:h West Glasgow
1 002. 76S Evan Welsh, Lb van
889 90S Mark McGirJay. Wei,'

Roland in Time

1 53 ctysta Is Andrew Marshall London.
1 49 crysta Is Kenny Macaskil I . A lloa ,
1 43 or yala Is George Reaves, Bradford

Roland on the Ropes
3,000,730 Ad n mi Johnston .Shrewsbury,
1 ,420, lOf: Stewart Hackley. Poynron
1,310,100 M^rmF-l^rknr, Peterborough

Martin off the ropes

Roland on the Rop&s First I
shall start by saying that the score
after 999.999 goes back to zero
Therefore you add the second
scoro to your first to get your
overa Si score

Secondly my score should
have read 1, 3 10, 100

Thirdly . the lowest scor a you
can ge' is 50 not 1 00

Fourthly, it onty took me five
and ."i b.j;f hour*; to gel (he score
NOT 13 hours au prompted by
David White
Martin Ellerker
Peterborough

Wpll&ud Martin. Your cor reefed
back mths lsbl&3 Andatiy
fature score earner a/rou/d be
easily checkable

SibreWulf

I Z?„ I V 5 C ra i n ' I' h omson , Eyemouth ,

59, 620 Jeremy Bowd en. LooghbmtXKjtl

Sorcery

Lota of people over 97 ,000

Jorcery Plus

4 Derek Hcndnrson. Ciarkston.
1 37.622 Paul Bmadiey. Glasgow
137.527 Paul Broadley, Glasgow

Space Hawks
77.55QMarkWagnei Pinner

■ ■ ISO Stewart I iackley Pcyrnon.
74,350 Gary Caliam EKerar

Spanneiman

1 j Julian Cater, East Sheen.

66 500 Dona-Id Sharkey Scunthorpe
65 .000 Stephen Gf ay , Bdth

Splat

22 035 David Ccbane, Wylhenshawe

Bhttles

32,913 Sean Brady Eltham
31 ,406 Steve Hancock. Car lush?
31 ,343 James Broadhursi. AmiiOCh.

3D Starstrike

10,031 ,003 Joseph fa rung ton Warring ten.
7.809,000 Colin Hardie. Tranent.
5,60-3,000 Spencer Harrison Hartley
Wintney.

Sieve Davis Snooker
1 1 3 Gr.ieme Taylor. East Ktlbrlde.
1 1 aUreakSi John Bird, Fakenham
1 lODavid Woodfield. Walsall

Sultan's Maze

I .aiOClivf! J.imcs, Newport.
1 772 Richard Dencon t Torquay.

Super Pipeline 11

2.33B 340 Joseph Dniman Wigan.

1 .22R.05S Graham Ross. Devises.

126,460 Matthew Burbedge SitiingboiirTw

Tankbuslers

IB 3W Ian Boffin, Woking

450 rg Messenger, Berth

SOO Graeme Taylor . Last Kil hrjde
10 1 ID James Leighlon. Chelmsford.
8 1 30 f J'ltren Ryder, Leighton Buzzard.

The Way of the Exploding Fiat
2 193.000 Matthew Lemgo. London,
1, 137 BOO Adrian Leign.Siockpcrt
968.700 Flommmg PedeTsen. Ttenmark

Who Dares Wins II

StawnO'CanrielJ S.aciip

-in J i
300 Christopher K^r Jy, Weytnoutti

Wizard's Lair

1 6&. 385 Adrian Leigh, Stockport,

00 Paw] 1 nwis Korthwh
1 42. 250 Wyndham Ronnie, Rad.ilnnk.

Tie At Kung-Fu
9,567.000 Peter Clnrk. Ibrox
9.434.180 Ralpri Turner, Newport
7 , 1 92,020 Mat! he w Wood . Lough ion

AunlJj.

AMSTRAD ACTION MARCH 1936 105

STUNNING

SAVINGS!

Wake up to Amstrad Action's unique mail order service

Watch out for your fingers, these pages are HOT! They
give you a way of getting hold of sizzling software at
sizzling discounts, Simply by using the vouchers printed
below, you can obtain discounts ranging from 50p to a
full £5 on the programs you want, tt makes it easy to
recoup the complete cost of this magazine at a Stroke!

In addition to these discounts, almost all orders
cfuolif y for a special no-string s-artached FREE GIFT ra no, -
ing from blank cassettes to full-priced games.

We know of no more exciting way of getting the
programs you need.

► Reliable

► Economic

► Fast

For collectors of 5%
vouchers

As you can see. this month we 're
•lightly changing our dwccwn;
voucher scheme so thai instead
of having io collect vouchers
people can claim their disc;
immediately with
voucher

However \t you v« peem rot
lectotg out 5% vouchers from
previous issuer you can fffrtt U3e
these INSTEAD c! the r.ew
vouchers You can also -for
month only - use ?he SOp voucher
printed on this page a? an #&
ditionai %% vouchor, in other
words, tf you've already
ted two 5% vouchers from im
dif i e r e nt ea 1 3 if>r issues of AA you
can send them in !ogethet with
the SOp voucher and claim a total

VOUCHER

CS.SS

I
I
I

discount of 15% off your order
This applies only to orders re-
ceived before March 15th, i&86.
What you CANNOT c:

claim d reduction uamgone of the
new vouchers, and at the name
nme claim a further discount
.7 you tS% vouchers .

FREE!

with any order over £5

A C 16 date cassette. These cass-
ettes contain high-qu*hry tape
especially designed for use by
computer owners. They come in
library case with blank inlay
card.

VOUCHER

In mix itkmi** Hvut 16 *3

tftM

(mtt. mm \ m m m pm **n)

I
I
I

with any order over £15

Your pick of any one of the games
featured in the SOJTWARE
SUPER SAI E box! They're worth
from £3 10 oarrr (Please note,
. should specify a second
choice or. the order form in cases
your first choice is out of stock .)

with any order over £30

Your pick of any TWO
games .".ired m 'he

■WARESUPER SALE hex 1 11
means you CiUl pick up games

than half your :ota£ orci«=i > Please
note, you should spe-:
choices on the order rarrTi
yOUt fltSt Choices ire

stock }

^^ i_i_iig_juj__jj_

VOUCHER

I
I
I

VOUCHER

I
I
I

The rave way of buying raves

If you're not sure quite what games you'd, like you could do
worse than make a selection from this list - it's made up of
programs given an AA Rave review in this or previous issues of
Amatrad Action. Remember that by sending in vouchers you can
obtain considerable savings on the listed prices.

YTEARKUNGFO

Hilarious combat action. £3.99 ease

BOUNTY BOB STRIKES BACK

Oh-ao-eddicti ve performing . £9 M cass . tl 3,96 disk .

SFYVSSPY

Wacky cartoon capers. £9.95 cass.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Classy warqame. £9.99 cass.

3DGRAKDPRTX

T.ie-buming graphics! £9.93 cass £13.99 disk.

BRUCE LEE

Leaping and fighting. £9.93 cass, £13,95 disk

RAID

Bombing the Commies. £9.9Scaas, £13.93 disk

MATCHDAY

Skilful soccer play. £8.95 cass

NIGHTSHADE

Dazzling graphics from Ultimate. £9.65 casa

SWEEVO'S WORLD

Humourous, stylish, brain-teasing £7.96 cass

TLL

Unbelievable scrolling- £8-95 cass

BARRY McGUlGANS BOXING

Best Amstrad boxing game. £9.95 cass

BOULDER DASH

You cant stop playing. £9,95 cass

LORDS OF MIDNIGHT

Great adventure epic. £5-99 cass £ 1 2.95 disk

CYRUS3CHESS

Looks superb, plays tough. £9.95 cass £13.95 disk

WAY OF THE EXPLODING FIST

Smash-hit combat. E9.9B cass

WHO DARES WINS U

Groat Commando-style shoot-em-up £8.95 casa

SPELLBOUND

Bargain arcade-adventure £2.99 cass

TANK COMMAND

Tough battle-field action. £1 3.95 disk

SEYFOX

3D air combat simulator . £9 .95 cass

DALEY THOMPSON'S SUPERTEST

Fight more gruelling events. £$.9S cass

■HMMMWHHWIHIM*

""l" l "» I 'I' I I I I ) LI

► tf you wan i the disk version of a
game you must marl \tm .-leariy
on tile order fcrm. Otherwise
you W get n cassette. Do check
hat a disk version exists and
that you have the right price for it.

SOFTWARE SUPER-SALE

These games only £2.95 each!

Hey, how about this * Sixteen Amstrad game-titles which you can.
buy at about ONE THIRD of the shop price' They may not be AA
raves, but all but a couple are perfectly good pieces of software.
Most received AA ratings- of 604 Q% , but that was. based on (heir
full as kuig price Of £8- 1 . At just £3 ,95each they ' re great barga:: is
You can ordei theaa in the normal way by fining- in the Mail
.Order Section of our All-in-One Action Form. And remember, if
your order is large enough you can claim further discounts and
maybe even extra games FREE 1

Selecting serious
software

v , ilir ,,, ^en't your scene , how
bout choosing on* ™ fte
celieni program* (or any other
jussofiwaie ..■)"?

TASWORDfil^B

..rbwo*d-pT«e»0flor6ia

rs malnng *&&*<* **
memory. £*.»di*.

__ earlier vemam tor «4o
G64 owners- The disk protfrm
uTcludes a maii-merge faculty,
ggcasa E24.«'aiak.

iDISCOVEEY
.-^.^..-hebestotthew^

disk copters H 99 cass.
disk

£1\99

AMERICAN FOOTBALL (Atgus/AmtoA)

«■*•" « " «»y >wa ami ttautme. AA Jutiw

Tl" 1 " -

AMSGOLFlGaapiMitrrjto -Anscfri
CHVCE1E EGG (A it T)

H-J9t ,'r i J d.rfi™ Hi[in nxrlnf jimtinn pflfB* AA M«m

CLASSIC ADVENTURE (Aaaott)

T!n [ii —I wt!»*nr.rw t/Mnntrir^ aiH, Pr* Pllgim.

GO&SNAMEMA T(AmMQfl/Mi<TOffi*$*)
Dtm*.-*tft9 J&tptetitnts-efii ep AA Kttny ? ■".

ELECTRO HKEDDY (AioMott/Satapot)
Frwettc. Itmmmmt urn t c rt m i«mt AAXtting 17%

BONUS r .• - AjTWOfi/PlO&lc)

JET BOOT JACX (Aimdt/Eagiuli Softwtr*)

flnri i » ii u" *^^" " «'»<fe»CTpa»ai,Aflftanf »*.

LASER WARP(AmRa!s?ftiikroGe*\}
MANIC MINER (AmtQff/SoHwan Project*)

TJHi fi tm a l r mm Jyjifrrfiwn irar^ AA tt*nn3 l* 'p

MASTER CHESS (AmsaR/MikmGma)
MESSAGE FROM ANDROMEDA
ROLAND COBS DIGGING (Anuoft/'Com)
SPACE HA WXS (Amto/t/Dwmll)

Vmimama/ttm1tet*-na-nfiltiiltetlt^itLr' AAXaUVir'.

SPIA Tt (AmtoA/Jne*navt)
SKPER-WPE11NE iT|Am#afl/T«fcMfj

, for hunareds of
^undso* ether micros. £49 .«'
disk

cass. m 95 disk

i'idfiU Only M*.* ««
£39.0Sdisk

► We try to be as accurate aa we
can in giving npneeand

disk verEiar. j-«il.ibility HoW-
evei we can't be held liable for
,iry errors whichinay have siepi
in

HOW ORDERS ARE DEALT
WITH

Amstrad Action Mail Older is ran
here in Sometfras. but in a sepa-
rate location lrom the main AA
HQ_ The operation is ran by ihe
super-«£ficient SUE TAYLOIt, the
woman »ho gsi» mora mail in a
day than most people get each

Unless your order mcludea
programs which out supplier* .
cannot get hold of for soma re-
ason, Sue will despatch all pack-
ages within three days of receiv-
ing them. Therefore H allowing for
the time in the post, you can
normally expect So receive yodr
parcel within a week to 10 days of
ordering.

If it's delayed beyond that,
the chance* are you've c rdw ed a
title which either haan 1 yet been
released or is temporariiy un-
available. In which case a phone
call from you WON'T «peed
things up, 0n fact, the reverse.
Phone-calls are very tune-
consuming to deal with.) Natur-
ally, if a long delay was likely
we'd lot you know.

Overseas readers

can join in!

Readers in the Republic of
IRELAND can order any of these
goods at the same rales as British
readers provided that payment is
made in pounds Sterling. If you
wish to pay in Irish punisyou must
add a 1R£3.50 surcharge \ti
ADDlTiON to aJJowmg for the
current exchange rate - that's
what it costs us to pay in your che-
ques or postal orders .

Readers elsewhere
EUROPE must add 25% to the cost
of their order to allow for extra
postage rates- Payment must be
in pounds Stex ling

If you live OUTSIDE EUROPE
please add 50% to itiecostof your
order to cover postage. Please
also specify whether you require
jir mail or surface delivery We
will pay refunds in cases where
the postage aims out substanti-
ally cheaper than the exira
money you have paid Once
again, payment must be in
pounds Sterling.

Amstrad Action
Readers' Charts

A n*w teader ot Hie top of the gam*< charts - Imagines
smashing karate game Y'te Ar Kung fu has deposed
Melbourne Howie'i smashing karate game Fist \n fact,
Fist has slipped down to seventh place. Kas if gat the
stamina for a comeback?

Significant newcomers include Barry MtGvig&n's
Boxing, TU and Who Dom$ Wins ti They alt look poised
to charge up the charts next month.

The Serious chart still finds Mini Office cock o
walk. An interesting prospect in store here - what
pens if Mini Office 2 has similar success? AMX's Mouse
has crept up to a very strong second place, while Oiscov
vry, from Siren, has charted at number 3.

The Voting
System

For anyone new to our state-of-
the-art voting forms and system
or anyone STILL having I rouble -
here h another ran down on what
to so and how to do tt.

You have at your disposal a
TOTAL of 1 voles for each cha r [
Thesecan be split up any way you
like on up to five titles but the
number of votes you give to the
different titles must add up to 10.

For example, on the games
chart you could give all 10 votes
to a single game Or you could 5
votes lo one game 2. lo another,
and 1 each le three others. You
)ust have to allocate your 10 votes
to reflect your preferences as ac-
curately as possible What you
CANT do is give five different
games 7 or Q votes each- Thai's
greedy

One further thing you cer-
tainly can'i do is send m photo-
copies of the form. There have
been attempts at jiggery-pokery
in the post so wc want lo avoid
any possibility of i: happening
again

GAMES TOP 20

I. Yie Ar KungFu
2. Sorcery

V.: nr, =,--.- fr

3. Elite

. tretoi

4. Sorcery +

Virgin/Aaacfti I I

5. Sabre Willi

: l;-.- r . .. i . r_- ,

6. 3D Grand Prix

7. Way of the Exploding Fist

8. Spy vs Spy

Bflyona(2fi :'

9.TLL

'■'.:: ■

10- Barry McGuigan's Boxing

1 1 .Hyper sports
12. Combat Lynx
13. Knight Lore

U /.t.". r: ■ - : .<-t>\

14.Strangeloop

Vlij .:; : 1 :■■■

15. Star Ion

KwttxrurxHjEJujbt. i

1 6. Who Dares Wins II

Altigai ■

17. Cauldron

18. Soul of a Robot

1 9. Lord of the Rings

20. Highway Encounter

THE ALL-IN-ONE ACTION
FORM

win £25 or

Fill in as much of the form as

you wish (front and buck).

Then cut our the ENTIRE

PAGE (even if you've only

filled in parts of it) and post it

to:

AA Forma, 1& Pine wood

Drive

Somerton, Somerset, TA11

6JP

IMPORTANT

Don't forget to M in this bit

Na !ne

Age

Address.

Telephone number.

fly filling In thT* part*! f the form, you
gain Hie chancer to win £25 of soft-
voire of your choke. THREE of these
uhs pecrkab ly o k c i ting priz tn a re on

offer. All you hov* to do is invent ci
couple of little phraie; to run along
the bottom of our pa g« ne k t to the
words AMSTftAD ACTION - some-
thing a* idiotic, yet appropriate at

those in this issue.

The winners' phrases will un-
doubtedly be used in firtwe isjuei,
as may other peoples Anything to
save us having to think of them'

PHRASE T,
PHRASE %

High-score challenge

1 hereby challenge the following high scores printed in Amstrad Action:

GAMF

1...

SCORE

Ithtnk i ho acorn (g) impossible becauso

High-score entry

I would like to register my high-scores in the following Amstrad games:

GAME

SCORE

TIME TAKEN

LEVEL

. . i

■

I promise these axe genuine scores achieved without using cheat methods.
Signed

Game chart voting form

1 j

GAME

I would ID

« to vote for the following gamers):
SOFTWARE BOUSE

NO. OF VOTES

4 ___

* .

Total j

number of -rotes 10

Serious software voting form

^^^■^^— — ii .i n . r b^—^— ^— — . ■ i i m l . ii i n , i ■■

1 would like to vote for the following piece^s) of 'serious software':

PROGRAM

Hi -^—

4._
S._

SOFTWARE BOUSE

NO, or VOTES

Total number of vote* =10

'■',-':. ■',■:■:•.-.'.:■.

THE MUSIC

SYSTEM

C you titvGivi ah-^y, r^d jh e
review ebe^re m this :s Sue .
ifiia program is very special -in*
da*d - by fer the oidst soplueti-
=a?ed music composing system
auaUahi* oa the- Amstrad It aj-
lows you to errata and p j ay *
wide rang© of sywfcastasd
sounds, turning your ArnoJd into
rt powerful BBteicaa keyboard

ft'* Already ;B bargain at a*
shop pnee af £l$,8Sdn cassette
£19 95 disk However y 0lJ ^
buy it iirect fromus fcj even les>-
. Jusi- £13.95 cassette ar £16 S5
disk. It's a great offer for sr.yo-ie
interested in music,

To order, just circle one of
aw options below and enclose, a

^equfc or p^i order made
payable .So Future Pushing
P«& t forget jo fiu i n yout name

a ud add.ress.in.. tfa$ apac* c n fre
back of this pa g o! please not*
ffitooffar ts separate from diexe*
04 our fflajj order scheme - you
cd npQt aseajie disco-ru *tfuefce rs
to dains d Airifcer reduction 1

Please rush
SYSTEM or
£12,S&

Pteose rm& me
SYSTEM mdisksn

fig MUSIC

'" at 6nty

(ME MUSIC

Mail Order Section

I would like the following tides: ^ ce

Software house
Game

., ■ — - "

1 ., ... *>■ ..«*<■■■»■" * *"-' "

2 — ■ "' ■ ' "" ' ""'

3., - ■ ~~" ' ' '"

Total cost pre- discount,,,,,..

Please circle ONE of the following A-E if it applies:

^TTrS e co B ti3be™een £ lB Ml d£20.Ienclo S e a £l

discount voucher and claim ONE free f™ &

£■ The total cost is between £20 and £30. 1 enclose a ^

exiling me ,oaSV.,10»/.flS-/W20% discount.

After allowing tor discount me total amount payable
fenS'.'chequ.Jposul order for *is amount made ou«o

Future Publishing.

Space Ha wks / 5p/A. J / Super Prpe/"re ti

Strange as it may seem fox us to
pout praise on a program pro-
duced by one of our leading com-
petitors, it is nonetrdess true' Mini
Office 2 {created by Database
publisher* of Computing with
trie Amsirad') has to he the soft-
ware bargain of the month! Six
My professions/ programs
which can transform your com-
puter in io a machine of immense
power Writing letters, produc-
ing reports, making financial es-
timates may never be the same
agam - see the review in this
issue for more details

SPECIAL Of FER

save £41

Normally the program costs
£14.95 on cassette, £19, as on disk
and at that price represents as-
tonishing value for money. But
Amstrad Action readers can buy
il for even less. Just £10,95 on
cassette or £15.95 on disk, a full £4
saving! And that includes VAT,
postage, packing, everything.

To order just ci rele one of the
statements below, cut out the en-
tire page and send il to the ad-
dress overleaf, together with a
cheque or postal order made om
to Future Publishing, Don't forget
to fill in your name and address
on the other aide of [he form,
(Please note, this offer is com-
pletely separate from the rest of
our mail order scheme - you can-
not claim a free game with it, or
any further discount.)

Please rush me the CASSETTE
version of Mini OSica B at onlv
£10,35. *

Please rush me dte DISS version
of Mini Office Bat pnjy£i S. 9S.

[Fill in name and address |
overleaf I

GRIP STICK - GfUP STICK - GRIP STICK GRIP STICK ■ GRIP STICK - GRIP STICK GRIP STICK ■ GRIP STICK GRIP STICK
-I > <-

H !

E l

CL.

3
9

H !

Now

FINGER TIP

CONTROL

IS WITHIN

YOUR GRASP.

A total/ new design gives instant response
to your command movements.

Up to now Joysticks of the Speedking quality
are priced at £20 and over. The Speedking is

microswitch based, and costs only £12.99,
£14.99 for BBC & DRAGON machines.
Designed to fit your hand, not the
table top. meaning comfort during the
longest of games.

GUARANTEED for Twelve Months.
Available for Spectrum 48K and
Plus Commodore 64, 1 28 and Vic 20
Atari. Electron, Amstrad, BBC and
Dragon machines.

i
i

Send 10 Konra Computer Ptoducu Unit 1 3 Srhowy Ind Est Tredegar Gwtnt NP2 4QZ

dlttD >DI1S df>ID OOLLS cfMD< XDUS dl>ID-^lDLLS dWD< )DI±S dl^O OOUS d^DOOIlS dlbO j

AA sensational subscription offer department presents...

Continuing the tradition of astounding Amstrad Action
subscription offers comes this virtually IRRESISTIBLE pro-
posal. Subscribe to AA for as little as £8,25 and receive a
stunn ing Ma stergame of your choice absolutely free!
Take up the offer and not only do you guarantee yourself
a regular monthly supply of the world's most satisfying
and modest Amstrad magazine, you also pick up one of
the gomes which between them represent the cream of
Amstrad leisure software over the last six months,

Each one of the titles on this page has received the
much-coveted Mastergame award in a past issue of
Amstrad Action. Each one is an outstanding piece of
software which should provide you hours of entertain-
ment. And oil you need to do to get hold of one is take
outeithera six-month or a 13-month subscription to A A.

You ca n even have TWO of the games thalcome free
with a six-month subscription by doubling up and taking
out a 1 2-month subscription here and now.

Although this offer applies only to the CASSETTE
versions of these programs, disk owners too can cash in
with one of the Am soft range of disk games - see sepa-
rate panel for details.

Phew! It's a scorcher.

MARSPoftT

" lhe tosi fa of, *"■ Ti ** gam*
"""aid***' ****«- p^,,,

FREEwilhJ
6-month

subscriptie

FREE with a

6-month
subscription!

eveT yon*

$7**»»

«SV

Advantages of

subscribing

There's more than one reason,
apart from the prospect of su-
perb free software, for taking out
a subscription to Amstrad Action.
You're guaranteed each
month's copy delivered hoi off
the press straight to your home -
no frustrating trips Id newsagents
who've sold out.

You guard agatnsl the possi-
bility of future price rises in the
magazine. For example we stuck
a cassette to the front cover of our
Christmas 1985 issue and raised
the price to £1.50 subscribers.
however received it at no extra
cost. It could happen again!

You qualify fox further special
off er 5 in future issu es ,

You give valuable support to
Amstrad Action, the independent
magazine written FOR Amstrad
addicts BY Amstrad addicts.

The annual subscription fee
of £16.60 includes the cost of post-
ing 12 issues to you - there '3 no-
thing more to pay .

Bv the eftd ,? ! _ Ei

chains? J ** &l* eadY

gft*W

e W*^ r

chs^ ce -

-ou already

bscrib

Our existing subscribers can also
benefit from this special offer by
buying ANY of these games at a
massive £3 discount per game!

All you have to do is write
down on a piece of paper your
name and address, the
subscriber's number printed On
your address label (if you can

find it!) and the game(s) you want
to order. Allow a discount of £3
for each program ordered and
make OU! a cheque for the total
amount to Future Publishing.
Then send off your order to:

FREEwi(|

12-mor
subscript

SUBSCRIBER '5 ORDER
AMSTRAD ACTION
SOMERTON
SOMERSET
TA117FS

FREEwitha

12-month

subscript] on!

*nco

b^. " Jit I *\ ^H

* « Ulan I hAXa ^s^ The Z 10 ** Ot
D^ yo, w adva™ U C3n ton

FREEwitha
6-month

subscription!

s&sisi

oily £1

1 - n0 ve^«e

Only £8.25 for a six-
month subscr iptio

to Mil AND you get
superb free
It ware*

SPECIAL SUBS OFFER ENTRY FORM

™8niC ,ni

1 1 1 »»»i M t»t**t*tl 1>TIt«t it f «lt I > M I I t I I ■ > ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ I I • ■ ■

Address,

DISK OWNERS' DELIGHT

Although the five Maste r games are be mg offered en cassette only,
you can obtain a free disk program if you prefer hy taking out
month subscription and selecting one of the Artisoft titles L
below. Each would normally cdsi£ 13.95.

CYRUS II CHESS

. . pet b 3D disp lay , and po w y r f ul

'nth many options An AA

Ran THE chess p rogram lor the

SORCERY PLUS

The r>— ? im version was brilliant
and this goes far beyond it with
more dun 30 new locations Ex-
plore a — i«lnjl|i depicted
magic world m m bid to rescue
seven soiceron Many people's
f .1 vounte game o* 1986.

STRANGEIOOP PLUS

From the same programmers as
Sorcery Phis, thtt disk version
again goes beyond (he superb

cassette-based original which by
itself won a jave review in AA. A
demanding arcade-adventure
sot in a robot factory.

3D GRAND PRIX

The best motor racing game on
the Amstrad micros. You have a
detailed driver's eye view in-
cluding rear view mirrors to re-
veal the cars coming up behind.
Fast, exciting action.

RAID

The controversial game from US
Cold which has you pitte d against
the entire Soviet nuclear attack
force. Four different stages of
Classy, ShoOl-em-up action.

titi-»rppiPVM§frffMiiiiJ4 imipmiimi*^[ C0Q,Q t ^ tkV phimiii

Please underline ONE of the following statements (1-3). making
sure you have circled the game or games of your choice.

1 . 1 would like to lake out a six-month subscription lo Amstrad
Action and enclose a cheque or postal order lor £8.23 made oul to
Future Publishing. Please send me the following free cassette
which I have circled:

HIGHWAY ENCOUNTER /MARSPORT/YTE AR KUNGFU

2. 1 would like to EaJco out a 12-momh subscription to Amstrad
Action and enclose a cheque or postal order for £ 1 6 .50 made out
to Future Publishing. Please send me the following TWO free
cassettes which L have circled.

HIGHWAY DfCOUNTER/MARSPQRT/YIE AS KUNG FU

3. ) would like to take out a 12-month sub script ion to Amstrad and
enclose a cheque c-r postal order for £16.50 made out to Fuiure
Publishing. Please send me the following free game which! have
circled.

ELITEEcass)/SORCERY i (disk)/STRANGELOOP ^ {disk)/CYKUS
II(disk)/3D GRAND FRIX(disk)/KAID<disk)

Post your order to: SUBSCRIPTION SPECIAL OFFER. AMSTRAD
ACTION SOMERTON. SOMERSET". TA1 1 7PS

ic profile

How do they keep those budget blockbusters coming? Why are
they so good? Euperfly Bob Wade ventures into tho Mastertronic
web to see top progger Stephen Curtis in act ion - and gets a
glimpse of the latest games.

► Elite mega-tips

One of Britain's most powerful games players shows you how to
get going in the massive mega-game . Trade . accumulate and blast
your way through the rankings to reach thai awesome Elite status.

► Education with Arnold

The season of 'Ohhh' and Aaa 1 Levels is fast approaching. Can
Arnold better your chances of getting top marks? Or simply pass-
ing? Will the Amatrad teach a child to spell, tell the tune and fasten
its shoelaces? We surrey the educational software available.

► Serious Software

We lay hands On New Ward, the WordStar tookahke. The new
AMX Art and Utilities programs - with added colour get the
going over, Pius lots of other news and reviews.

PLUS

► ACTION TEST -we give me lowest gomes our customary and
exhaustive work out,

■* HOT STUFF — the spiciest special otters section around.

► REACTION -more of your voluminous feedback,

► ADVENTURES — The Pilgrim sets off once more In seorch of fun,
games and puzzles.

ADVERTISERS' INDEX

Activmon SS
Alligata 102
Ariolasofl 7 1
Cascade 5]
Database 86
Dur rell 94-95
Electric Dreams 79
Evesham Micros 5 1
Firebird ins. b. cover

Global 87

Good Byle 96

Gremlin 74

Imagine 16-17, ins. f. cover

Incentive 7

Interlock 96

fConix

Light Wave Leisure 5 1

Load n' Run 52

Llamasoft 67
Microbyte 64
Micropro 4 1
Ocean 60-61 , b. cover
Piccolo 67
Pride Utilities 52
Printerland 96
PSS1S
Qualsoft 94

Ran] an 96
Shekhana43
Siren Software 67
SJB Disks 31
SoftekS2
Soft Insight 52
US Gold 4-5
Virgin 46
Vortex 6

Available for Commodore 64. Spectrum 40K and Spectrum + Coming soon: Amstrad and MSX

i^W

FTRESPD SOf- TWAFiF WELLWGTON HOUSE
UfT'Ett ST MAR TIN S I ANF LONDON WC2H «JL

Zap Mifepm*

•

OFFICIAL COMPUTER GAME
OF THE BOX-OFFICE No.l
SMASH HIT. TAKE THE ROLE
OF SYLVESTER STALLONE IN
ALL THE ACTION-PACKED

BATTLE SCENES.

. Sbxrw j G

COMMODORE 64 & AMSTOAD

8*95

Ocean House ■ 6 Central Street ■ Manchester ■ M2 SNS - Telephone 06 1 832 6633 - Telex 669977
Ocean Software is available from setected branches of:(^>, WHSMI1 H . ^M.U'NIUH HWMUMflffTlf LASKVS. RumbelowsGrcens .

Spectrum Shops and all good software dealers. Trade enquiries welcome.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Texts

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Amstrad Action Issue 006"

See other formats